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, - 4
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saved the West ert
VERESS
First news, first reviews - every week
Issue 19 * Mar = 1989
Game of the week |
щы 3D pool breaks off page 47 |
THIS WEEK
NEWS
A new deal for potential Amiga
owners has been strung together
by Commodore, which offers
| freebies notionally worth £200
above the asking price
This follows last week's exclusive
news in Express that Atari is
planning to rejig its successful ST
Superpack with a line up of more
knew it would be a major
for us and not just
game.” The game is
written by new outfit E
than twenty top games
Commodore, however, is
hoping to attract new
punters with an offer of
different ilk
The Amiga bundle
costs £499 (£100
above the normal
price) and comes
with a TV mod
ulator, three
games, a disi
wallet and a
paint pack
age. How
ever, the i
company eee
has also
thrown in an 'airmile
voucher worth £160. In effect, Amiga
buyers will be getting a return trip to
Paris, Amsterdam or Brussels
absolutely free. The offer kicks off on
April 1st and should run through to
the autumn, perhaps even up until
Christmas
Commodore has made no bones of
the fact that it wants to attract the
yuppie" type to Amiga computing
An offer of free airmiles is sure to
appeal to this audience many of
whom are beginners to home
computing.
One of the games is the graphically
stunning Who Framed Roger Rabbit
which costs £30. The other two are
AMIGA FLIES HIGH WITH
NEW PACK
* Flying high: Commodore to bring out new Amiga bundle
Logotron's Starray and Hewson's
well received Nebulus. Best
Publishing supplied the paint
package Spritz which normally sells
at around £50. In all the freebies are
worth just under £300.
The standalone A500 will also be
available at its normal price of £399
Atari has found that its Superpack
also £100 more than the standalone
machine — has proved to be the most
popular purchase. According to
Commodore the special bundles put
out over the past few months in
conjunction with distributors will be
discontinued
We had a fantastic Christmas
with the Amiga and I think there's a
lot of awareness about what the
machine can do, commented
Commodore's Dean Barrett to
Express. "We're looking at the
yuppie market but we've also found
that many Amiga buyers are
between the age of 18 and 24. Travel
is obviously very important to
them."
He added: "People know that the
Amiga is not just for games but а
for hobbyist type activities suc
art and music."
as
Take your PC on a spin
PC-owning drivers are
being earnestly ass-
ured by NextBase that
they really should take
a look at AutoRoute
Plus.
The £299 program is
basically a colour
computerised roadmap
of Britain featuring
67,000 miles of roads
and 33000 place
names. Users can zoom
in on any area and
take a print out.
The most interesting
feature is a routing
and scheduling system
which finds the best
route between two to
25 places. It is claimed
that the optimising of
stop offs via the program can "save
up to 20 per cent of your driving
time and cost".
AutoRoute
printed out
Plus
route
offers
also
directions.
NextBase is pondering introducing
an ST version of tlie system in the
near future. More info on 0784
460077.
TARI REVELATIONS
The ever eclectic Atari has
revealed a batch of new plans and
new machines which will soon be
storming into the computer arena.
At last week's CeBit computer
show in Hanover Atari's UK boss
Bob Gleadow told a select few
journalists of far reaching plans
covering the Folio Pocket PC, STacey
laptop, Super ST, Mega ST 1 and the
ST games console
@ FOLIO POCKET PC: In an
unexpected move Atari is planning
to produce a line up of at least five
different pocket PCs for varying
applications and users. These will
include two A4 size PCs (the Folio 1
and 2) one of which will be a 286.
Both machines will be the same size
as Cambridge Computer's 288
Also, in a bid to attract the very
low end PC user, the firm will be
introducing a £60 model of the Folio.
This is being dubbed the “dumb”
Folio since it will only be capable of
word processing. A slightly higher
priced model will also be launched
incorporating a word processor,
clock and diary.
€ STACEY LAPTOP: For the first
time a working model of the ST
laptop was
public. That will cost less than 3,000
Marks in Germany, which amounts
to under £1,000 in the UK. However,
Atari may choose a lower price point
when the STacey arrives in the UK
in June. Atari has spent the last few
months “fine tuning” the machine,
which cost something in the region
of $400,000.
* Mega 1: New mutant ST
The world biggest
computer Show...
CeBit, the worlds ultimate
computer show, kicked off last
week with more than half a million
visitors expected to pass through
the doors at the Hanover Messe
over the seven days.
The figures behind the event are
astonishing. The 3,125 exhibitors
fill up 325,000 square metres of
floor space. They are crammed
into 17 different halls many of
which are the size of Olympia. Our
man was there to see the
thousands of machines and to hear
the latest on high tech PC
technology. For a full report turn to
page 28. -
on view to the general |
As expected, it
features a tracker
ball mouse. It runs
an 8 MHz 68000
processor with
1Mb of dimen-
sioned memory,
The laptop weighs
about 14 pounds
€ SUPER ST:
Despite its long
running claims
that there is no
such thing Atari
will in fact be
launching a soup
ed up version of
the ST in Sep
tember. Dubbed
the TT, it is
claimed to be able
to run at five
times the speed of
a normal ST. It has
2 Mb of RAM and * STacey: Dropping into your lap in June
runs а 68030
processor. Prices are likely to begin | launch. Gleadow explained that the
at £999. On the TT Gleadow vowed: | firm wants to gauge public and
“I want the Archimedes market” press reaction to ideas before
€ MEGA ST 1: As first predicted in | deciding to go ahead. "We're a
Express (Issue 12) Atari has| People company" he said. He
launched a Mega ST 1. In effect this | added: "Atari is a benevolent
is a 1040 inside the three-sectioned | dictatorship so long as we're
case of a Mega ST. The Mega casing | Selling."
is generally regarded as
being more stylish than
the normal ST. The
machine costs £599 with
monito. Atari wil be
bundling it with word
processing software
within the next few
weeks.
@ ST CONSOLE: That
will arrive in the UK next
September. Atari has
already suggested that it
will cost less than £100.
The firm says that
although the machine will * Folio: New versions planned to suit all pockets
be ready by the middle of
the year it will take three months for
software to be put on ROM.
Many have wondered at Atari's
policy of announcing future plans a
long way off from any possible
Slightly away from the computer
market it is understood that Atari is
also planning to launch a range of 14
different calculators which may be
sold through selected petrol
stations
Portable computing: Size is everything
The size and weight of power portable PCs could be on the way down,
following the announcement of a remarkable new hard disk drive.
The tiny 20 Megabyte hard disk has been unveiled by Colorado based PrairieTek.
All the memory capability has been squeezed onto two magnetic platters, each only
two and a half inches in diameter.
The drive includes a motor as well as read and write heads, and it can store the
same amount of information as a normal 3.5 inch hard drive. PrairieTek is most
likely to sell the gadget to PC manufacturers, who in turn will be able to offer
powerful 20 Mb portables which are hardly any bigger than less powerful machines.
The main worry for portable owners is that their machines take a fair bashing in a
normal working day. Hard disk drives are notoriously fragile creatures and they
don't take too kindly to being knocked about
PrairieTek says it has this covered. When the power is switched off the read/write
heads switch back to a safe haven away from the delicate magnetic plate (in much
the same way as a record arm). Whilst stationary the drive can withstand a knock of
up to a hundred times the force of gravity without losing data.
Hardware manufacturers will no doubt welcome the breakthrough. The hard drive
costs a reasonable $400.
| CONTENTS
|
| VIRUSES 15
Don't let them crack you up!
The Express guide to beat
viruses
HISTORY OF THE C64 25
How Commodore's baby
stormed the world
THROBBING HANOVER 28
First report from the biggest
computer show on earth
GOTCHA!
How one man caught the
West German computer
spies
REGULARS
EXPRESS COMMENT 4
CHARTS 5
LETTERS 11
BEGINNERS 21
You can do everything at
once! The beginner's guide
to multi-tasking
JOBS
TECH TIPS 43
GAMES 47-48
3D Pool,war in Middle
EArth, Operation Neptune,
Legend of the Sword,
Goldrunner 2, Scorpion
GAME PREVIEWS 50
Bomber, Ringside, Subway
Vigilante, Street Cred
Boxing, Aaaargh
VOUCHERS 51
BACK PAGE 54
MACHINE
| ST 33
PC 34
Amiga 35
Spectrum 36
Commodore 64 37
PCW, QL 38
BBC, MSX 39
CPC 40
31
42
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989 « З
NEWS
Ыра,
СОММЕМТ
Cracking Crime
The present fear over the spread of hacking
is a sad but inevitable consequence of the
spread of micros. Now anyone can afford
one, and that includes the percentage of
psychotics present in computer owners just
as in the general population. Much arm-
waving and table-thumping is currently
going on as Mrs Thatcher is told that
Something Must Be Done. But what?
Car theft is illegal, but that doesn't stop
thousands of motors being taken every
year. Likewise, criminalising hacking will not
deter the determined computer crooks from
their armchair robbery. It will only, say
many hackers, bring prosecutions against a
harmless comms enthusiast poking around
who has the misfortune to be caught and
tried in front of a computer-fearing judge (А
modem, Mr Smith? ‘Yes, Your Honour, a
modem is device used to break into another
person's computer using a telephone line...)
The way to beat car thieves is to make a
car difficult to break into. No car is
absolutely safe, but an alarm, centralised
locking, carefully designed doors, steering
wheel-clutch lock and so on make things
very difficult for he would-be thieves, unless
they have several hours to spare.
Many computers can be broken into with
one password. But hacking into a computer
you can take as much time as you wish; you
just keep trying passwords with your special
hacking programs. And getting into one
often lets you into others straight away.
Security should be much greater than it is:
multi-level passwords, automatic alarms,
verification routines changed daily, and no
automatic gateways into other systems.
If the Government really wants to stop
hacking, and not just lash out in
technophobic panic at anything that dials on
a modem, it must set up a similar scheme
to the ‘cracking crime’ campaign (but
preferably without those horrible kids) for
organisations which operate on-line
systems; perhaps draw up a list of security
guidelines and offer free advice through a
specially trained section of the local police
The people to stop hacking crimes are the
very organisations whose security is
presently so fragile. What they need is
expert advice on how to tighten up their
systems from the pros, not just fudged
legislation against comms enthusiasts. |
|
EDITOR. Rob Ainsley
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Peter Worlock
NEWS EDITOR... Colin Campbell
REVIEWS EDITOR: Andy Storer
TECHNICAL EDITOR Jerry Glenwright
STAFF WRITER Rik Haynes
ART EDITOR Julia O'Shea
ART ASSISTANT Harriet Athay
PRODUCTION EDITOR Rod Lawton
ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER ....Mark Salmon
AD EXECUTIVES: Jennie Evans,
Andy Smith, Sarah King
AD TYPESETTING Terry Turner.
PUBLISHER. ... Greg Ingham
© Future Publishing Ltd 4
TEL: 0225 446034 FAX: 0225 446019
PM WARNED OF
HACKING DANGER
The Prime Minister is to be
presented with a special report
later this month warning of the
increasing danger posed by
computer hackers.
The report, compiled by Emma
Nicholson MP, will outline growing
fears for sensitive data such as air
traffic control, chemical plants and
hospitals. Many computer experts
are becoming convinced that a
hacker could spark off a catastrophe.
Nicholson is pressing for a
Government Bill to be included in
the Queen's speech this autumn
outlawing the increasingly popular
pastime of computer hacking
We must persuade the
Government to make unauthorised
access to computers a criminal
offence” she said. “We can't afford
to delay three of four years before
the English Law Commission reports
on the issue.
The report has been put together
with the help of the British
Computer Society as well as banks,
Lore and
disorder
Microprose's Times of Lore on the
C64 is experiencing loading
problems and users are being
urged to send faulty copies back
to the software house.
The arcade adventure was sourced
from Origin in the States. It seems that
the master disk which was sent to the
UK contained “a dodgy loader".
MicroProse is to obtain a new Master
and run out healthy copies of the
game.
The firm is saying that the problem is
one which only affects a small number
of users. However, it would not say
how many complaints had been
received.
"This is a problem which happens
from time to time. | just hope that
users will send faulty games to us
We'll send them new copies with the
new loader,” offered a spokesman
MicroProse are on 0666 54326.
* in Trouble with the Lore:
problems for C64 owners
Loading
police, hardware manufacturers and
data security experts.
IBM's chief executive Tony Cleaver
told The Observer newspaper this
week: "Every month new instances
become known. Computer misuse
can and does compromise the
Security of society and the
individual
Computer security expert Martin
Samociuk commented: “The biggest
danger is that youngsters bungling
around a system using a password
to get in at a very high level could
trigger a string of events which
could cause a catastrophe.
“The motive may be intellectual
curiosity on the part of a bright
student, or mischief for an
adolescent. But the knowledge
being disseminated by these
Yet another low cost 286 machine
has been launched, bringing
power computing closer to the
home
Future Computing's FS60 runs
at 12 Mhz at a price busting tag
of £1,096. A 30 Mb hard drive
version costs £1395. More on 01
651 3541.
* Grand desings: Low cost 286 computing
оп the FS60
enthusiastic amateurs is coming into
the hands of determined criminals
with far more sinister motives.
Computer could have saved Purley ines
A computerised system the train.
due to be installed on
the French railway
network could have
prevented the Purley
train disaster.
The system provides a
computer link between
signals and all the trains
on the line. A computer
would be installed in the
drivers cabin which
monitors the speed of
brakes
come on.
Citizen hi nched
inch floppy disk drive.
Measuring only 2
tted storage
ill latch on to the
gning a side mounting head
read/write mechanism
m x 10 cm
y drives.
4+ NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
If the data
between the points and
the train suggest he is
going too fast then the
automatically
As it stands in Britain,
the system
horn if the train is going
too fast. Drivers, though,
often override this by
pressing a button. The
computerised
s being touted as th
13
en hope:
The small drives
would have warned the
Purley driver to slow
down. British Rail is
looking at the new
system but it is thought
that the cost of kitting
out Network South East
alone could be as high as
£200 million.
Swedish computer
company Ericsson is one
of the firms bidding for
the contract.
sounds a
system
Citizen's micro flopp
* It’s not the size that counts: The minute UODC 3.5 inch disk drive
rid's smallest 3.5
m the UODC features 1 Mb of
that portable manufacturers
were achieved by
ce could be saved by repositioning
NEWS
The future aries.
An optical erasable disk system
which can record as well as read
data has been developed by
n Hitachi in Japan.
Optical erasable disks have
been treated cautiously by the
hardware manufacturers
because, although their potential
z TU for holding data is enormous,
Bulletin board chief's fury at “childish” sabotage they tafe sa 19 be sow
However, Hitachi is adamant that
its discovery is fast.
The advantages over today's
magnetic media are enormous.
Not only can optical erasables
hold as much as fifty times more |
data than a normal disk but they
are less prone to crashing.
Computer manufacturers will
be receiving first batches of the
Hitachi 5.25 inch in the near
future at £2,500 a throw. UK
availability will most certainly not
“PLL TEAR THEM
The head of the London Embassy | evidence ГЇЇ tear them limb from
Bulletin Board has told of his anger | limb.
at hackers who wiped out his | Bradford is convinced that it was a
bulletin board just for the hell of it. | group effort rather than ап
Noel Bradford came home three | individual. He has already put out
weeks ago to find that the cruel | feelers around the bulletin board
hackers had accessed his 20 Mb| world with ‘bounty hunter’ friends
hard disk and wiped out virtually | tracking down the culprits. He saic
everything. And, to add insult to | that he had an idea who the hackers
injury, the mysterious group then | might be
accessed the back up disk and| “I'm just waiting for someone to
reformatted that as well. start boasting,” he fumed. “After it
A clearly upset Bradford told | happened I didn't sleep for four days
> be this year.
Express: "These are people with no | because I was trying to replace the y
brains and a sick sense of humour. I | missing data. The complete -—
would guess that they're in the 14 to | bulletin board was wiped as well a:
15 age group. If I get some concrete | contacts, passwords and other
information. The bulletin board has | It is an unwritten rule amongst the
been running for eighteen months | bulletin board fraternity — that
and, at one time, boasted a library of | sabotage is not on. This is mainly
2,000 Public Domain and Shareware | due to it being easy, childish, and of
programs. no gain to the instigators.
RUSSIANS DROP
BRICKS ON UK
A game from the Soviet Union is
currently being paraded around
British publishers
The Wall was written by a
Moscow based gang of
programmers who are also
members of the famous Gary
Kasparov Computer Club. The
team are hoping that a British
software house will take the
game on here. The Wall itself
bears тапу similarities to
Mirrorsoft's Tetris - also from
Moscow - in that it involves
logical management of bricks.
Its being represented by
programmers agency Marjaq
Micros in the UK. Boss Jacqui
Lyons told Express: "It's a very
simple game. Many of these
Russian games are. They're very
lateral thinkers over there." The
Wall, if and when someone
decides to publish it, will be
available on the PC and ST.
The biggest Beeb game since '86?
A small games software label has arrived on the BBC scene with big
ambitions.
The Fourth Dimension's first release is a £15 golf game, Holed Out.
The firm reckons 20,000 BBC or Electron users will buy the game over
the next few months. Beeb games are doing very well if they attract
10,000 punters.
тегест] "This will outsell
ARAE апу BBC or Electron
HOLE game since Repton in
1986," predicted the
firm's Steve Botterill.
"We've given the
programmer a lot of
dosh to do something
good. Many good
programmers who
started on the Beeb
have moved on to
other things.”
* Hole Story: BBC Golf game
Sir Clive Sinclair's Cambridge
Computer is to offer Apple Macintosh
owners a low cost portable.
The machine in question is called
MacLite. But it is in fact none other
than the beloved Z88 along with a
fistful of bits and bobs. The machine
is being bundled with Z88-to-Mac
software and the relevant leads as
well as a carrying case, batteries etc.
“There are currently an estimated
70,000 Apple Mac users in the UK
and predictions are that this will
grow by 100 per cent this year,” said
Cambridge's Alan Boxer. “They
currently have no portable, we
believe there's a significant demand
for a low cost portable to use as an
adjunct to the Mac."
* MacPortable: 288 add-on to Мас же
TOP 20 Full Price GAMES
Robocop: ocn
WEC Le Mans мое
CPC, ST Amiga
Operation | Wolf хх»
ът, C4, CPC, ST Amiga
п Eni Hughes «sos:
Dragon Ninja г:
шк
Thunder Blade =
би CPC,
Falcon usor
ST Amiga, PC
In Crowd ом
Spee, би CPC
Ш Double Dragon sne wue
Spectum би ST Anja
Barbarian 2 nuce
Spectre sr
Batman х.
Lineker's Hot Shots =
Speco
Heroes of the Lance sc
064, CPC. ST Amiga, PC
Football Manager 2 xene
ST Amiga, PC
Super Hang On «cuc
Ang
Middle Earth зо оле
Spec 064, CPC
Pacmania озм
Spec O8 CPC. ST, Amiga, MSX
TOP TEN Budget GAMES
Пп Treasure Island сл
H Joe Blade 2.
Spectrum, C64, CPC, BBC,
World Games ax
PC, MSX
Werewol метою
Speci, C64, CPC
Int. Rugby Sim «usc:
Spect 064, CPC
Ghostbusters
Specrun, O64, CPC, Aan @
Leaderboard sx
SAS Combat sus
‘Spectrum, CPC
Knightmare „ос
т 064, CPC
ACE 2
Spectrum, СИ 0
IRE re-entry + МЕ new entry + Last week's positions 1
Compiled by Gallup|
[The charts shown are based on the Open Market, that}
is retailers who stock a broad range of products. All
charts shown are copyright of Gallup.
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989 « 5
ON PIAS ASEEN REET,
Japanese computer
work all in vein
| A Japanese scientist is designing
|a new breed of computerised
surgical instruments so small
they can be guided through your
bloodstream, performing surgery
on the spot.
Professor Iwao Fujimasa of Tokyo
University has been content up
until now with designing two
artificial hearts. Now, with the help
of major Japanese electronics firms
such as Hitachi, he has begun work
on his revolutionary new designs.
The instruments will measure just
а few nanometres across — а
hundred thousand of them would
be the width of a full stop — to
enable them to cruise around the
body. This requires chips hundreds
of times smaller than the smallest
| | currently available (a few
| | thousandths of a millimetre at
present) but Fujimasa is confident
that Japanese technology is up to
|
the job.
He has prepared plans for robots
which can crawl through the
circulatory system and zap away
unwanted
with lasers
| of internal
organisms or tissues
Emperor Hirohito died
bleeding from his
cancer Fujimasa. ‘With a
microbot, you could have simply
| injected it into a vein and used it to
| | stop the bleeding. He expects to
succeed before the end of the '90s.
said
Amstrad, the darling of low cost
computing, is becoming more popular
amongst PC buyers in the UK
Figures sourced from market
research firm Romtec suggest that the
firm is selling more low cost PCs than
all other manufacturers put together
an impressive 53 per cent slice of
the PC pie. These figures cover the
month of December 1988 and relate to
sales through dealers. Amstrad had a
44 per cent share of when Romtec
tested the market in June last year
Amstrads increasing lead is even
more impressive given the firms
concentration on moving up market
and the well publicised shortages
The news wil bring a smile to
Amstrad faces after months of
setbacks and disappointments such
as the recent financial results
IBM, traditionally Amstrads main
threat in attracting the low cost PC
buyer has slipped behind somewhat
That firms share dipped from just
under 20 per cent to 10.4 per cent
IBM's recent price restructuring in the
low cost area will no doubt recover
some of the lost ground
year.
December 1988 UK sales of 8086/88 PCs through indirect sales
Amstrad
IBM
Figuring it out
Demand for PC software is still
on the up and up. According to
the Software Publishers
Association, PC owners bought
40 per cent more software last
Commodor
Toshiba
Olivetti
Others
being laundered.
£1.7 million in assets.
Mac hacker cracks marijuana pusher
A London drug dealer has been jailed for eight and a half years after customs officials.
hacked into his Apple Macintosh and discovered details of how his unsavoury profits were
The cannabis dealer - Ronald French, 37 - had kept details of 14 companies on the Mac
under an "unbreakable password", The one time rag and bone man is a keen Country and
Western fan, his password was the name of the song "Blanket on the Ground".
The officials broke into the computer and found 14 companies listed in such countries as
Switzerland, Panama and Liberia. All the companies had been used to launder the money.
Such was the size of French's computerised operation that the court saw fit to strip him of
DATAWORLD
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6 * NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
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G ПТ:
YOU'VE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD
As a highly trained Assassin you must blast
your way along five zones on a crucial
mission to annihilate King Rhizoflagellates,
this is made seemingly impossible by hordes
of repugnant creatures whose touches are
fatal. To top that there is also a huge monster
inhabiting each zone whose only purpose is
to destroy all who try to pass.
50 Frames per second : Slick movement
Smooth scrolling · Scroll direction changes
each level - Numerous animated sprites on
screen - Five levels · True coin-op quality
As a Scorpion warrior journey through
magical lands where time has no control
battle your way through the five domains in
your quest to reclaim the princess of Scorpia.
Fight the numerous hostile aliens that
hamper your path. Destroy the five enormous
guardians, collecting weapons and abilities
along the way to aid you in your desperate
task
50 Frames per second · 32 colour mode
Super-smooth animation and scrolling
Over 100 animated aliens - Five extensive
levels · Sixteen skill giving pick-ups.
гапо RADICA 0»
Amiga Screenshots
AV AMIG А N: DIGITAL MAGIC SOFTWARE
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£24.95 Widnes Cheshire WA8 ODT
ST- SOON Tel: 051-423 5943
PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE AND
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22. Extensive ranges of Public Domain Software &
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AMIGA
from £3 per disk from £2.80 per disk
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ORDERING
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ж
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WHICH PC VOL. 261
lytechnic and | have
for my study
which my younger brothers can
th d upon two options
Can | obtain a good Pascal
fer on to my
ii) Any PC
good PC
n you
aring in mind t
recommend any
nt student
budget!) Can my TV serve as a monitor
without modulator)? Specs:
isk Drive, IBM compatible (MS
swer would be much
cipation
appreciated. Thank yo
y the way, what do the term:
etc stand for at the end of computer
names
Umair Malik, London
Ф | assume you want to be able
to write a Pascal program on your
ST and take the disk with the source
code on it to a PC and use it there.
You can do this (so long as your 3.5
inch disk has been formatted on the
PC). Try HiSoft on 0525 718181;
they have good implementations of
Pascal.
For your uses an Amstrad PC1512
or 1640 is fine (though not as good
a games machine as the ST!). Shop
around for the best deal at Comet/
Dixons/ Currys etc.
DD means double drive, SD single
drive.
SWEET COLUMN BIND
You appear to receive a lot of demands
pecific columns which are
not catered for, like the Atari 8-bit
idea to inc
hese machines
achine
ould it not be a g lude
columns
imply when
there is enough information to warrant
them rather than sticking rigidly to the
same machines е; eek? Perhaps you
could alternate each week say, MSX and
Atari 8.bit?
1 don't at present hav
may ou s
a computer but
oul art an Aberdeen
Aberdeen
€ Important news about any of
the machines not covered in the
columns would go in the News
section (Show details and so on).
There are already as many columns
as we can reasonably support in a
mag of this price (people don't write
them for free, you know!) and to
start alternating one with another,
or introducing irregular ones, would
quite honestly be too much trouble.
Sorry!
Msx MANUAL
| am very pleased to see a magazine that
includes MSX. | have a big problem. |
bought my MSX off someone ! know. !
have not got a manual for it and would
dearly d you or one of your
lers let me know how obtain
ne? | am at m end for a
del MPC-100. Service
1. Looking forward to
Sanyo MSX 64K N
ref. NO МРС-100
next weeks mag
Robert Hudson, Pontefract, W Yorkshire
Ф Try Sanyo's spares department
on 0923 222244. They still have a
few programming manuals (part no.
3-P02813) for £18.18, but have run
out of user manuals. Anyone out
there in MSXland help?
READERS, WRITE!
How about having a 'readers reviews
ection, either in with the main reviews or
in the ‘your machine’ columns? Also how
NOT THE SIZE OF
YOUR CHOPPER
| agree heartily with Tim Gowen
(Letters, Express 17 ‘Why the PCW is
better than the Amiga.’ 1, too, live in
the hope that one day we might see an
end to all this computer 'X'
versus computer
nonsense, but it's probably a Кы
forlorn hope. The drooling
teenage technojunkies will 2
never understand that as
far as home computers are
concerned its the quality of
the programming that counts,
not the theoretical capabilities of the
machine.
As an extreme example, | have
"Winter Events' for the Commodore 16
and ‘Winter Olympiad’ on the Amiga —
both very similar games. Now, the C16
is obviously vastly inferior to the Amiga
but, amazingly, the C16 version is far
superior in playability, and the graphics
are just as fast if not as detailed. It
gets played in preference to the Amiga
version any time, so am I wrong? Is the
€16 the better machine after all? Of
course-not. ‘Winter Events’ was simply
written by a better programmer, or at
least by one who knew his or her
machine better.
1 can see this letter getting the
‘Salman Rushdie’ treatment from some
ST» m
Q&Q
NN?
quarters, but | don't care. Contrary to
my resolution (which you pub!
recently bought an Amiga. It
wonderful machine and | love it, but |
don't kid myself that it makes
a member of some elite
— except in the sense that
lm lucky enough to be
able to afford one. It's only
as good as the person
using it, and | know that a
really good programmer
could. achieve more with a
Spectrum than n with my Amiga at
present. As Prince Andrew might say —
L е of your chopper that
matters, it's vay you fly it.
Stephen Mercer, Shaftesbury, Dorset
@ Similarly, David Bailey or
Helmut Newton can take good
photos with a Box Brownie instead
of a Canon or Olympus; Julian
Bream can interpret a piece as
well on a Woolworth's classical
guitar as on a Ramirez; Nigel
Mansell can drive a Ferrari or a
Metro and still come second.
Anyway, for a good dose of
common sense we think you ought
to get our mystery prize - some
software for your PC.
Dear Reader
More pages packed with another selection from our
postbag and Rob Ainsley's replies. Have you got something to
say? Make your voice heard in computing’s liveliest letters page!
Send your contributions to:
Express Mail, 4 Queen Street, Bath, Avon BA1 1EJ
PS. Sorry, we just don't have the time to give personal replies,
whether you include an SAE or not. We're too busy putting
t a page of hints and tips on the
t and best games?
David Deans, St Albans, Herts
@ Hints and tips on the latest
games go in the machine-specifics,
which is one of the reasons why
they're there. As for readers doing
reviews, er, yes, um, most
imaginative and, ah, interesting.
Don't ring us.
Happy EVER AFTER
| read with interest the letter from P
Bennett (But The Amiga Hardly Ever
Cra...) in Express 17. It is an all too usual
tale of suffering, inflicted by
computer dealers ever
a happy one
| bought an ST in January 1989, from
Silica Shop (who also sell the Amiga). the
machine worked fine for about a month
when it suddenly stopped accepting
mouse input, then the keyboard failed. |
many
my story is
returned the machine under Silica's
replace/repair guarantee. They repaired
the machine and returned it within a
week. But the machine failed again twc
weeks later. It was duly returned,
repaired and returned this time within ten
days. Three weeks later it failed for a
third time and was returned and repaired.
By this time | was becoming increasingly
agitated by the machines inability to
function for more than a couple of weeks.
Inevitably it failed again, within weeks,
so | contacted Silica to let them know
what had happened up until then. They
accepted the fact that the machine must
have had an inherent defect, and
replaced it (even though it did get lost for
a while by the Post Office) bundling
several top titles with the replacement
This was an act way above the call of
duty as | had owned the machine by that
time for over six months, and they were
not legally bound to replace the
computer. So many thanks Silica, the
initial problem was not yours, but you
handled it admirably. By the way, the
machine has now served me without a
hiccup for over eight months!
K Coward, Lancaster
@ A pleasant reminder that the
majority of mail-order companies
are perfectly honest, businesslike
and fair. Like used car dealers, they
Express together!
must get well hacked off with the
complaints about the odd rogue
here and there which reflects badly
on the rest.
CONFESSIONAL
OK, ЇЇ come clean. Yes it was те
(Express letters last week) a mere spotty
faced 16 year old who goes to Raynes
Park. Ten out of ten for your detective
work
| suppose you feel pretty smug, eh?
Well let me warn all you at Old Commuter
S Express that there is a Network Virus at
Raynes Park see PCW Feb 9-15 and it is
spreading. What's that — is that your
ile slipping or do you always look like
that?
So you sexist tossers (you assumed it
to be a male who wrote the letter) I've
got n well | will have
and very soon!
By the way - have you got the results
back from Bristol Police's Forensic
department? Please publish them when
you do!
The Beeb Bandit, South-West London
for you... er
@ Yawn. See this week's Beeb Box.
THE CLASS OF 288
| think your magazine is excellent
series written on Alan Sugar was in my
Opinion top class journalism by any
standard. | also did like the way you dealt
with the correspondent who praised your
The
magazine and another in the hope of
getting a prize
There are however, two points that
puzzle me about the information | have
been able to glean week by week
1Why do you not have a
specific column for the 788?
2 There must be a good reason why you
do not rate the Amstrad PC1640 the
best on the market for its price. | think |
have read all the articles including Which
PC in Issue 14, but | still cannot see a PC
to match it where price and specification
are paramount.
Maurice Baker, Leatherhead, Surrey
@ тһе 288 is a nice little machine
but there is very little software for it
(one database and one comms
package at the last count) very few
products coming out (most of them
machine.
PUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989 • 11
YOUR LETTERS ШЕШЕНИН
1 hope you will print this letter as this is
the fourth draft. if you don't I'll tell the
Ayatollah Khomeini that Mr Rushdie is
hiding in your offices.
1.1 want to buy an Amiga but Nigel
Lawson won't let me. Can you print a full
page picture of him so that | can stick it
down my toilet.
2. 15 there a voice editor on the Amiga
for the Yamaha DX100 Synth. If so, how
much is it?
3. How about inbuilt virus killers instead
of laborious annoying copy protection
routines?
4. Legalise piracy and you will get rid of
it overnight ... just like CB radio.
5. Virus writers should by flogged,
publicly. Although you've got to admire
them in a way, just like the great train
robbers. But then again, maybe not,
more like Typhoid Mary.
6. Can we have less pictures of Alan
Sugar?
7. Will | be MSXtremely unpopular by
saying that there are more Atari &bit
owners than MSXers. Not that it really
matters.
8. We threw away our AMSTRAD PCs at
work and bought TANDON PCs instead.
This was because they:
a Were rubbish
b Had bits missing
c Broke down a lot
dCorrupted DAT@!"R
9. After all the serious stuff can you now
tell me why years ago ! bought an Oric
Atmos for £139.99? The only reasons |
can now remember are
alt looked beautiful
b Had an excellent BASIC and
cl thought | could write games.
Ive still got it, it's still crap, but | love
itt
And finally (although | feel | could write
a book right now) here are some
anagrams produced with the aid of the
finest computer made to date...the
Human Brain v1.0:
being linkup systems to other
machines like the Mac) and not a
very large user base (most of whom
have other machines covered in the
columns anyway, making it an
uneconomic investment for us in
terms of extra readers!). For the
time being | can't see it, though of
course we constantly review the
coverage of the machine specifics.
Maybe the new price cut on the
288s will provide a boost in
No MSX PLEASE, WE'RE &-BITISH
New Computer Express = Excrement
мор supper
Neil Barnes, Birmingham
@ Er, here goes. 1. No - it might
block your toilet. 2. MCMLXXX
distribute Dr T voice editing
software though it's around £100.
Try them on 01 724 4104. 3. How
about them? 4. | doubt it. Software
piracy is effectively legal in Iron
Curtain countries and it hasn't
stopped them at all. 5. Well, yes,
just like you'd admire Dr Crippen
for being good at Chemistry or Lee
Harvey Oswald for being a good
shot. 6. You mean fewer pictures.
Yes. 7. Yes. 8. The views of this
correspondent do not necessarily
reflect those of the editor. 9. Is this
a riddle? | give up.
Your anagram doesn't work (and
we couldn't print the Nicholas
Ridley MP one as it was libellous).
Surely there are only two letter ps
in our title? How about 'women
expect purses'?
* Let's have fewer pictures of Alan Sugar,
says Neil Barnes
ownership?
The Amstrad was the best for its
price but a number of newer PCs
are coming out for the home or
small business user such as the
Commodore PC1, Schneider Euro
PC and so on. Many people feel the
Amstrads are a bit clanky and built
down to a price rather than up to a
specification - see the final point of
the 'No MSX please' letter.
ъ
* Is the 788 worth а column? (The class of 288)
MEMORIES LINE THE
CORNER OF MY PCW
| read with interest in ‘Computer Express’,
Issue 17 dated 4th March that it is
possible to obtain a standard memory
upgrade for an Amstrad 8256 at a cost
of £20.
* Thanks for the memory: upgrades on
(Memories line the corner of my PCW)
This information was contained in an
article by Basil Pigg under the title ‘The
Mega PCW. This was surprising to me as
the only upgrades | have seen advertised
have been priced at around £55 or so.
It has been my intention to try an
upgrade for the very reasons mentioned
in the article so would you be good
enough to let me know who produces
such an upgrade at the price mentioned?
Dennis N Duro, Westbury, Wilts
@ Sorry, it was a bit misleading.
The standard upgrade is as you say
£55 or so (try Silicon City on 0209
891141 - they also do B drives).
The £20 refers to the price of chips
bought in an electronics shop and
fitted entirely by yourself (по
instructions of course).
Locomotive now recommends the
normal 256K memory upgrade as a
matter of course for the 8256. And,
by the way, they stress that you
don't need the 1 megabyte memory
to изе LocoMail/ LocoFont/
LocoFile together - as the article
stated, you would only need it if you
use those three simultaneously with
LocoSpell too.
FLOW OF ELECTRONS
| was interested to read the letter about
the Electron (lsh 17) hardware scene.
Although mine packed in months ago |
still read Electron User and there are
several companies that still build add-ons |
for the Elk
Try Slogger (0272 237496) for various
add-on bits, such as the Master Ram
Board (£49.95 - Kit), which gives the
choice of either BBC speed or an extra
32K RAM. They also do repairs and sell
various ROMs (Disassemblers etc).
Pres (0272 72046) sell the same sort
of things and still stock their own
versions of the Acorn interfaces (Plus 1 +
3). You can also get hold of the Music
5000 Synth for £113.85. Most BBC bits
are available but you will probably need a
Plus | or User port to run these.
You can get a 64K Electron for as little
as £100, which makes it a bargain way to
learn BBC basic. Check out Software
bargains (0532 687735 or 0532
687789) for reconditioned Electrons
selling for £60 and some cheap hardware
packs (Plus I, Acorn Logo, Viln, Viensheet
+ lisp on ROM for £117.45 - not bad
value | must say).
By the way, Spectrum 48 owners who
want to go mad should take a look at
Galaforce, Kissin’ Kousins, Frak
and Impossible Mission (as well
as others | could go on about).
No colour clash there! Hope this
helps
Robert Henderson, Liverpool,
Merseyside
@Thanks for the info -
hope Electron fans find it
useful.
DRAGON ON AND ON
| am writing about two things.
The Dragon 32 and the GCD
(great computer debate)
Firstly | own a Dragon 32
(remember those?), and | think if
is one of the easiest and user:
friendly computers to work with
For a tester, its merits are:
1 К has a useful reset button
that doesn't reset the RAM, it
literally resets the game back to
the beginning.
21 has cartridge capacity.
Зі works well as a WP.
411 has good graphics.
Sit has extension parts for everything
except MIDI (just about).
The question is, why did it die out?
Anyway, back to the GCD.
As a (possible) end to the GCD, and
proof of how mad everybody is here is
the list to end all lists:
The C64 is superior to the Speccy, but
punters generally prefer the Ѕрессу.
The Dragon is far superior to the BBC,
but the Dragon became extinct
The Amiga is superior to the ST, but more
people program and buy STs
Amstrad is basically a big bucks quick
firm, but people still buy from them.
MGT is the best hardware mail order
company, but virtually anyone | asked
hadn't heard of it (even within the
Spectrum), and finally
Special Reserve is the best and cheapest
software mail order company (my games
came 2-3 days after | sent my cheque),
but punters are still sceptical about
Jocky.
If you want cheering up, then read clue
441 of the Gnome Ranger's clue sheet.
And, finally, adventure games are
played a lot because of the sense of
achievement gained, for example the 'oh,
of course, how stupid I've been’ feeling
when you suddenly realise how to pass a
certain area or puzzle, and arcade games
are played for the sense of power and
superiority experienced (Express 16)
James Handley, Barnes, London
€ Why are things born, why do
they die? | don't know, it's the way of
all things. If someone knows what
clue 441 of Gnome Ranger actually
is, please tell us.
PSION OF THE TIMES
Why don't you have the occasional piece
in the mag about the Psion Organiser?
There are a lot of us about and we're
growing!
Please pass on our congratulations to
whoever on your staff wrote the piece on
the new Atari PC on page 54 of the most
12 NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
YOUR LETTERS
—-
recent Express (issue 17). | read it out to
ife in the car as we were travelling
те most amusing pieces that we have
| ever read. Keep up the good work
Jeremy Holt (Chairman SPOUG)
Swindon, Wilts
Ф Thank you very much. We'll,
er, give serious consideration to
Psion Organiser articles.
NOOKIE HOLE
After flicking through
many
and п
{ gue:
have
till not been able to locate a
stockist of the much flaunted 'nookie'
games, Teenage Queen and Emmanuelle
and so on
Due to excessive use of Anglo-Saxon
expletives in my general direction, | am
forced to ask you for possible stockists.
L
Falcon dss
Operation Wolf
TV Sports F/Ball ..
Dungeon Master
Stos..
Elite
Afterburner .
Batman
Speedball
Baal
Obliterator
Double Dragon .......
Captain Blood
Sword of Sodan ......
Falcon Я
Purple Saturn Da
Thunderblade
Flying Shark...
Disk Box 3.5 holds 50 Lockable .
Amiga Dust Cover durable clear plastic
* Teenage Queen: What's her hair dryer doing blowing that way? (Nookie hole)
A prompt reply would be greatly
appreciated, as our investment in toilet
rolls is blocking the stairs.
R M Johnson, Guildford, Surrey
Ф well, you can find them in the
mail order ads of Express.
1 am thoroughly dismayed that no
feminists (m/f) have written in to
complain about our reviewing
programs like this. Have they given
up computer gaming as a bad job,
irreparably shot through with
stereotyped thinking? I hope not.
Тодт
First, | must thank David Carter in his
etter in issue 16, for indicating a use to
which | can put my QL, after | downgrade
to a 386 PC. It will certainly be more
comfortable than the Transform
Keyboard Spectrum currently used for
MERRYMODE
SNIPPE
А PEEK IN А POKE
How do you put something in memory
and get it back out again and if so will
it stay in if the computer is switched
off? Ive got a C
Lee Emmery, Nailsea, Avon
POKE, PEEK, and No.
NEW TITLE?
Whei
title?
Kevin
Ireland
We can't drop it as there is a
computer stockist ^ called
‘Computer Express’ - nothing to
you drop the ‘New’ in your
McGahar, Belfast, Northern
this purpose.
The main reason for writing to you, is
with reference to the PSsst! User
Instructions on Tea Making Challenge.
| was very surprised not to see a
contribution from the most proliferate
author on the subject of Home Tea
Making, namely, Miss Niai Clair Sin. It is
generally agreed that her best work to
date, is on the subject of Lap Top Tea
Making, entitled, ‘Home Tea Making with
the Goblin Teasmade & Compatibles’,
now in its 10th Edition, and which has
been translated into 34 languages.
For the TM professional, the Hardware
manuals supplied with ITM machines are
excellent. The most famous Tea
Packages are Ashton-Tea TBase IV and
Lotus Blossom 1-2-Tea
Until recently ITM was the standard
choice for corporate TM Departments (It
MERRYMODE
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INCLUDING
VAT & POSTAGE
Drum Studio
Wordperfect
S
do with us except that they
advertise in our pages a lot.
PCW PATCH: ONE AGAINST
Drop the PCW column, it is so dull
Neil Barnes, Birmingham
AND ONE FOR
My main interest is in Amstrad PCWs
and IBM compatibles and the coverage
you provide is brief, accurate and very
much to the point in the Your Format
section
Maurice Baker, Leatherhead, Surrey
And my casting vote is for. So it
stays.
is well known that no-one was ever
sacked for buying ITM).
Now, however, the new parallel Tea
Makers based on the incredibly powerful
INTMOS CTMUs are beginning to make a
real impact. A prototype at the Which Tea
Maker Show was able to make 96
different teas simultaneously, and serve
over 800 remote TPUs, with sub 1
second response. Conservatively rated at
1600 CPM, this machine represents the
first major step forward in Tea Making for
10 years.
With extreme cynicism
Douglas lan Holland, Crawley, West
Sussex
@ Now | brace myself for the
requests for a Goblin Teasmade
column...
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How safe are you? Despite
frequent shock-horror sto-
ries in the press, viruses
are not the computer
equivalent of biological
viruses they are made out
to be. Jerry Glenwright
cuts through the hype and
gives you a healthy dose of
common-sense...
оште cataloguing some files using a utility
your friend gave you. Suddenly you think
you see a character in the top left hand cor
ner of your monitor break into small pieces
and crash to the bottom of the screen. Must buy
one of those anti-glare screen covers, you think to
yourself, put it down to eye strain and carry on.
Within minutes, it's happening again. Gradually
all the graphical display ‘breaks’ into tiny pieces
and falls to the bottom of the screen, and your
computer locks up. When you start up your сот
puter again, all your data has gone. Wiped clean
Irretrievably.
Nowadays, the above can be an all-too-familiar
scenario. Hardly a week goes by, without the pop:
ular press reporting some new disaster from the
computing world, involving that most deadly of
the enemies of computing: the virus.
Large corporations the world over are living at
the edge of total collapse as the insidious frag:
ment of code burrows its way into their computer
systems, destroying everything in its path. This
fatal fragment of fury, unleashed from within the
depths of some demented hacker's perverse and
twisted mind, threatens AIDS-like to destroy.
Could this potential for dramatic journalistic treat
ment be part of the reason for the incredible pub-
licity given to viruses during the last six months?
As with any item of popular news, there is a
modicum of truth. The computer virus does exist
(though in 18 months in the computer industry,
T've never seen one). It does replicate itself, writ.
ing these replicants to your disks, until one day
some condition is met and you are made aware of
its presence. But it is not nearly as widespread or
dangerous as the tabloid press would have us
believe. It is relatively easy for the novice as well
as the more experienced hacker to get rid of, and
several steps can be taken to insure against its
appearance in the first place. If you own a
machine like a PCW, CPC, Spectrum or C64, you
are extremely unlikely ever to encounter a virus
it's the ST and Amiga owners and the PC and Mac
users that should be on their guard.
The virus is just a computer program: the cousin
of the program that corrects your spelling and
allows you to process words and play games. The
difference with this program is that it is written
with the express intention of doing something
unexpected or damaging to your system. It takes
several forms, and its results can vary from the
relatively innocuous (such as a silly message or
changing the colour of your screen), to the trash-
ing of your hard disk, with the consequent loss of
all your data (although even in these extreme cir-
cumstances you may still be able to retrieve vital
files).
Who writes viruses? Some started as jokes and
do harmless things like scatter slugs over the
screen which move over it, leaving a slimy trail.
Others were originally devices to stop pirate copy-
ing: one example has been the ‘Brain’ virus which
originated in Pakistan and has spread to America.
It started as a harmless messaging routine but
some hackers have altered its makeup so that dif-
ferent ‘strains’ of the same routine have been
г
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989»15
COVER FEATURE as
reported to trash hard disks
Sacked computer programmers have been
known to write viruses to get back at their former
employers, and many viruses now are being writ
ten for fun as a nasty kind of computer vandalism
Rumours have been circulating of a virus writing
kit available in West Germany to help prospective
vandals, as reported in Express (issue 14)
What boots it
Consisting of just a few tens of bytes of code, the
virus is a very small program which is hidden
away on a disk: as difficult to find as one sentence
in a book. On almost every disk, there exist areas
needed by your disk operating system, to access
and use the information which is stored on the
disk. For example, the boot sectors, which con
tain a machine code program which loads the soft
ware stored on the disk into the correct memory
addresses of your computer, and start its opera:
tion. These sectors are read every time the
machine is booted. Then there are areas such as
the file allocation tables, telling the disk operating
system how big your files are, their names, and
their whereabouts on the disk
Eric is a keen home computer buff. Each evening he is
to be found at his machine, computing the home
A s\Dedlin
New file
«i
netboot.bat
**echo off
*cls
:*pronpt $p$g
net
tlogin tecnet
E
козо ОСО DEED lelelcilalalaladlajalal
* A virus at work on the PC
Day in the Life of..a Virus
жж Sonething Honderful Has Happened xwxw»
жне
and
All your disks are infected
fraction of a second earlier, it was
being examined by the virus.
Your conputer is alive
ade
deer
It is very easy for the would-be virus program:
mer to add (or ‘patch’) an extra few bytes of code
into one of these areas. This then acts as a pointer
(the computer equivalent of an ‘Advance to May
fair’ card) to the virus routine stored elsewhere on
the disk, which loads itself into the memory of the
accounts and logging-on to bulletin-boards. 10:05:00 Eric has completed the sorting and fil computer. Once this task is completed, control can
During a typical session omine to his favourite bul- ing of eight disks, each one now infect- | be returned to the operating system. These opera
letin board, Eric notices a filing utility, which appears to ed by the virus. tions take a very small amount of time, perhaps à
be just the thing he needs, in order to organise his 10:30:10 Eric joins his friend Rita for coffee. few tenths of a second, and so your suspicions are
growing collection of files on floppy disk. He down- 10:33:10 Eric informs Rita of the wonderful new not aroused
loads the utility from the board, but, because of the utility. He tells her that it will solve all Once the virus program is resident in the memo-
late hour, he decides to wait until he goes to work the of her disk filing problems ry, it will sit in the background waiting for you to
following day before trying it out. 10:45:25 Back at Eric's machine, Rita makes a insert another disk in the drive. It then checks the
copy of the utility, so that she may use | relevant areas of the disk, to see if a replica of
9:00:00 Eric arrives at his office. it at home. itself already exists. If not it writes out an exact
9:03:00 Eric boots his machine into the office 10:45:25:08 Тһе virus infects Rita's disk. copy of itself, infecting the new disk. Soon, all
PC network, and logs in. 11:05:00 Ron, overhearing the conversation your disks will be infected. Then, at some prede
| 9:04:00 Eric inserts the disk containing the new between Eric and Rita, decides to take | termined event or time (when five copies have
| utility into his machine. a copy for himself. been made and the virus has safely propagated
9:04:35 The utility is up and running, but, 11:05:00:08 Тһе virus infects Ron's disk. itself, or when the date reaches Friday the 13th for
unknown to Eric, so is the virus he 11:45:00 Ron has infected eleven of his own example) you will be made rudely aware that you
unwittingly downloaded with it the disks, with the virus ridden copy of the are a victim of computer virus.
night before. utility which he took from Eric. And that's it. No magic, no sinister happenings
9:05:50:45 — Eric inserts the first disk to be sorted 11:46:00 Ron discovers a disk which he missed just a small piece of software doing what it's been
into his machine. during his filing operation. He inserts programmed to do. Once in the computer, the
9:05:50:48 The virus ехіпеѕ the boot sectors of this disk into his machine. virus does not stay there forever. It cannot remain
the new disk to determine whether or 11:46:00:08 The virus infects the new disk and in so | in the memory of your computer once the power
not it has already copied itself to that doing, completes its life cycle of the supply has been removed. It cannot infect other
disk. infection of twenty disks disks by keeping them together in the same box,
9:05:50:49 — Discovering that the disk is free from. 11:48:00 The virus announces itself and begins and it isnt transmitted via the air or human fin
infection, the virus writes an exact the systematic destruction of the host gers!
replica of itself to the disk system, starting off by wiping clean all You must, however, be aware that it can infect
9:07:50:49.5 Eric carries out a disk directory listing the customer data on the company's your disks! Don't think that it can't happen to you,
of the disk, completely unaware that a network hard-drive because unless you take precautions to ensure
that it doesnt get to your software, it will. And
Е === pM t although it is perfectly possible to
eradicate a virus from infected
Technobabble iruses ] disks, better that you don't have to
try.
nn————— DG —
Practise safe hex
The cardinal rule is to write-pro
Boot sector
The instructions on disk telling the com-
puter how to start up when you switch it
on; how to load the operating system and
so on. The process of booting up is like
getting dressed in the morning: what you
take on then is with you for the rest of the
day. Boot sectors are a favourite hang
out for viruses.
Bulletin Board
Computer which can be accessed by peo-
ple to download software from: they can
be anything from hobbyists' private com-
puters to large companies' information
services.
Downloading
Copying a program or other file from
someone else's computer onto yours via
a cable or phone link.
PD (Public Domain) Software
Software free of copyright which may be
copied and given away freely. A notorious-
ly popular breeding ground for viruses.
Trojan (Horse)
A program that looks useful — a utility or
game — which actually contains a virus
and is a sneaky way of getting it into your
system.
Vaccine
Program or group of programs that pro-
vides some kind of protection against
computer viruses, or detects their pres-
ence enabling you to trash the offending
disks (and use the back-up copies you
took instead).
Virus
Malicious program which causes damage
to your data or does something unexpect-
ed when a predetermined condition is met
and propagates by copying itself to other
disks.
Worm
Malicious program that moves through
your computer (inserting garbage in your
text files perhaps). It doesn't usually copy
itself to other disks as a virus does but
just ‘worms’ its way through your system,
so is found in networked systems rather
than individual micros.
tect all floppy disks whenever pos
sible. A virus cannot write a copy
of itself to a write-protected floppy
disk. The simple application of the
write-protect tab is enough to stop
even the most terrible virus in its
tracks. Make a back-up copy of all
unprotected software and use the
copies. Be very careful when you
buy or otherwise receive public
domain software; it is the single
largest method of transmission for
the virus. You will be unlikely to
find a virus contained within com
mercial software. The software
houses are very careful to combat
something which may rob them of
their trade, although this is not to
say that it doesn't happen. If you
16 » NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
oe
[53
MEE COVER FEATURE
purchase your public domain software from a rep-
utable supplier, then they may be using some
method of checking the disks, and they will usual-
ly advertise this fact.
Bulletin boards, because of their inherently
interactive role, are prime targets for the distribu-
tion of the computer virus. Be very careful when
using any utilities or games that you download
during a session on-line. Often, the virus may be
disguised as a patch to cure a bug in some other
piece of PD software. If you're using the software
and haven't encountered the bug, then don't use
the patch: what purports to be a cure may, once
used, need a cure itself. Try to limit the amount of
disks you swap with your friends. Although you |
take extra care with your disks, they may not.
If you want to examine disks more closely for
the presence of a virus, then use a sector editor.
These are programs which allow you to make a
more detailed inspection of just what is on a sus:
pect disk. Turn on the ASCII dump function and
search through all the files on the disk, for mes-
sages such as ‘Something wonderful has hap-
| Hooray it's the vacs
| How about a vaccine? These are utilities which
| will track down and ‘kill’ any virus which may be
| lurking on your disks. By examining the bootstrap
loader code and file allocation areas, they are able
to identify rogue code. They will then prompt you
as to whether they should hand over control to the
software on the disk, or delete the suspect code
and ‘cure’ the disk. They are available from the
public domain, as well as commercially, for most
formats
Finally, if after taking all precautions, you find
yourself a victim of the dreaded virus, then make
like a hitch-hiker: Don't Panic. Turn off your com
puter and wait for several seconds before switch:
ing back on. Examine the offending disk. Do files
still exist? If so, are they legitimate files? If the
| disk is a copy, compare the files with those of the
original. Do the byte sizes of the files correspond?
If not, then they may have been changed by the
virus, and it may be wise not to use these files
again (unless you can examine them with a sector
editor and recognise rogue bytes). If the byte sizes
pened, 'Now trashing hard disk, etc. You may not | сү
the files d у les to
be able to see where the virus code starts and |? D CRIIeSpor Hien copy these ев
| another disk, and f d
where it ends, but at least you know that this disc | mother disk, and format the corrupted disk. If
is probably infected, and can revert to your back
up.
You can also use the sector editor to examine
the system areas for extra bytes as described ear
lier. You must exercise caution when making this
kind of search, as a mistake may lead to your soft-
ware being rendered unusable.
Desk ^ Rnalyzer
TRRCK 81
Archiver
files have been deleted, you may still be able to
retrieve them using one of the many 'un-delete
utilities available. If the disk is completely cor
rupted, then at least you were using a copy and
still have the original, don't you?
Remember: the home or small business user is
| far more likely to be the victim of media hype than
virus corruption.
Editor
SECTOR IDI TRK:881 SEC:881 SIZE:0517 SIDE:8 CRC:good DF:yes 1
882 | 803 | 804 | 805 | вө | 887 | 888 | BBS | B18) Xxx) ххх ххх XXX] XXX] XXX
00 : F7 FF FF FF 4F вв 05 60 ВВ өт ве өв 03 AB BB OB
CO ве OD EB 88 BF 0B ві 11 20 01 13 40 81 15 68
ïj «
20 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 20 28 282888872
51 6F 6D 65 74 68 69 GE 67 28 57 GF GE 64 65 72
66 75 БС 20 68 61 73 20 68 61 70 78 65 GE 65 64
2E 2E 2E 28 59 БР 75 72 28 01 74 61 72 69 28 69
73 28 41 БС 63 76 65 21 2042E 2E 2E 28 61 GE 64
28 65 76 65 GE 20 62 65 74 74 65 72 2E 2E 2E 2E
20 61 6C 6C 28 79 GF 75 72 20 64 69 73 6B 73 28
61 72 65 28 63 GE 66 65 63 74 65 64 28 77 63 74
28 61 28 56 69 72 75 71 21 21 21 28 28 28 28
Sonething Honder
ful has happened
‚ Your Atari i
s Alive! ,., and
even better...
all your disks
are infected wit
h a Virus!!!
28 28 28 20 28 28 28 20 28 28 20 20 28 88 B8
20 08 83 48 08 85 60 өв 87 ве өв 83 RO DB BB
88 8D FB FF ВР BB 03 91 FB FF FF 4F 03 95 68
97 80 89 99 АВ BI FF CF 09 3D EB 03 ЭР ВВ BA
20 ВА Ri 40 BA AS GO BA R7 BB BA АЗ RO BA RB
SAVE TRACK] [EXIT
NEW TRACK] [RESTORE SECTOR] PRINT
= |PAGE( + |
* Viruses can often be spotted in the middle of a program by text messages like this that display on
The World of Viruses
Though many hundreds of viruses have been written,
many of them whimsical and harmless (one early
example in a mainframe printed ‘Happy Birthday Lud-
wig’ on screen on Beethoven's birthday) a few are
more destructive. Here are a few examples of the sort
of thing you may find yourself up against.
The ‘1813’ virus
Avirus supposed to have spread widely around PCs in
the City, taking its name from the fact that it was
1813 bytes long. It was set to ‘go off’ on Friday 13th,
wiping clean all disks and hard disks on any computer
using a disk infected with it on that date. Despite
widespread publicity only six cases of it doing so were
reported.
The ‘PLO’ virus
This caused the computer it was on, in the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, to slow down to one fifth of its
speed. It was caught before it could achieve its pur-
pose of destroying all the files on the computer on Fri-
day, May 13th 1988 - the 40th anniversary of the last
day Palestine existed as an independent country. The
perpetrator was never found but its nature led it to be
dubbed the ‘PLO’ virus.
ЅЕХ.ЕХЕ
A Trojan Horse American PD program which let you
watch pornography on screen, but whose main pur-
pose was to infect your PC with a virus which corrupt-
ed your disk after replicating itself to others.
Byte Bandit
An Amiga virus. After a random amount of time it
blanks the screen. The screen is recoverable by press-
ing the left ALT key, the left Amiga key, the space bar,
the right Amiga key and the right ALT key, in that
order. (The virus emerged recently on certain versions
of the game 'Wizball' but versions bought now should
be OK).
As Easy As...
What does a virus really look like? How does it repli
cate itself, and write these replicas to your disks?This
routine, sneaked into a normal program disk some-
where, will copy itself to all disks used on your
machine and will burst into life, wiping the hard disk,
when it has parented twenty offspring, or when it's
Christmas Day (whichever is the sooner).
The virus begins by initialising two control variables,
which it uses to determine whether or not it's time to
'wake-up f neither of these two conditions have been
met, then it will check each disk inserted into your
drive, writing replicas of itself to those which are not
already infected
Prospective hackers should note that it's written in a
language which is plausible but nonexistent so cannot
be used or adapted to make a real virus!
Мап routine:
Var drive num; copy. count; THE. DATE;THE. COUNT;
:89"
‘sub screw system: -
end
‘copy_count=0
drive num-l
Drive test:
if drive num» then
go disk test.
else — subto sleep
drive num-1
Disk test:
Var disk in drive; already infected;
Var boolsec. byte. cnt;actual. byte. cnt;
bootsec byte cnt«(normal boot sector byte size)
already infected-0
disk in. drives examine(drive num(relevant memory loca-
tion)
If disk in drives then -
if examine(more_drives(mem loctn))«drive. num then .
drive пит= дме num«l:
go disk test.
else drve num-0:
go drive test.
else — actual byte cnt-valexamine(disk(boot sectors)))
already infected-modibootsec byte cnt/actual byte cnt)
if already infected then
Copy. .count-copy. count« L:
if copy. count- THE. COUNT then -
Sub screw system: -
end.
else drive num-drive numel:
go disk test
else — sub infect
drive numsdrive num« 1
go disk test
Infect:
write(disk(boot sectors(virus)))
copy countecopy counts l
if copy count- THE. COUNT then -
Sub screw. system: .
end
return
To. sleep:
repeat
scan(floppy drive(drive_num))
until (disk(inserted))
return
Screw_system:
Var format. disk;
format disk-(hex value for op)
assign(relevant mem location), format disk.
lock(keyboard)
print'Oh dear. Hope you've made backups of your data
because you've just lost most of it..."
return
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989» 17
COVER FEATURE as
The virus problem is not as widespread in the UK as in
America, and the availability of commercial virus-bust
ing programs reflects this. Particularly for owners of 8
bit machines - the Spectrum, CPC, PCW, C64 et alia,
there are few if any viruses in circulation and few if any
vaccine programs
If you're willing
to do business
with our transat
lantic cousins,
then an enormous
quantity of soft
ware awaits. Oth
erwise you're prob:
ably going to have
to dig around in
the public domain
happy hunting.
Get your vaccines here
at power-up, monitoring each disk inserted into the
drive for possible infection, and providing a method of
inspecting and protecting copy protected software,
AntiVirus provides comprehensive coverage of
vulnerable areas. DevWare Inc. P.O. Box 215, La Jolla,
CA 92038-0215.
In the public domain, try
Amiga PD Unlimited, 55 Highfield Avenue, Water-
looville, Hampshire PO7 7PY. Tel: 0705 266509.
George Thompson Associates, Dippen, Brodick,
Arran, Scotland KA27 8RN. Tel: 077082 234.
PC
The available vaccines for the IBM PC and its compati-
bles reflect the business image of the machine, i.e.
exorbitant pricing!
For your hard-earned money (£99 + VAT for the sin
ST Anti-Virus |
Very little, if anything, available commercially for the
Atari machine, but a rummage through any of the PD.
catalogues will produce several vaccine programs. Try
ST UK, 1 Bartholomew Road, Bishops Stortford, Hert
fordshire CM23 3TP. Tel: 0224 593024
Star UK, 50 Bridge Street, Aberdeen, Scotland.
Tel:0224 593024
Amiga
Again, a dearth of good commercial vaccines (whatev.
er happened to good old exploitation?)
Anti-Virus from DevWare Inc. offers three levels of
protection against the virus. By checking the computer
gle-user or £159 + VAT for the multi-user version), you
get the Safeguard Security System from Viraze (UK)
Ltd, the business alter-ego of self-styled security expert
Alan Soloman. This vaccine offers protection over a
range of areas: automatic read-only/hidden protection
of DOS system files, password entry, automatic write
protection of boot sectors, suppresion of FORMAT,
FDISK and DM.EXE and lots more.
Included in the package is a very nice looseeaf, fully
indexed manual - but remember, you're paying for it!
For public domain vaccines, try
Public Domain Software Library, Winscombe
House, Beacon Road, Crowborough, Sussex TN6 1UL
Tel: 0892 663298.
Books |
Some books about viruses are The Computer Virus
Crisis by Fites, Johnston & Krantz (£13.95 from S&S
on 0494 791900, ISBN 0-442-28532-9). This has a list
of virus-busting programs and addresses, all American
of course, and is oriented very much to the Mac user
(this being the dominant machine there) though PC
owners will find a lot of interest too.
Then there's the rather more technical Computer
Viruses - A High Tech Disease by Ralf Burger (£17.45
available from 5370 52nd St SE, Grand Rapids MI
Philip Fites/ Peter Johnston / Martin Kratz
AARARAARBCCCODE
Г bGBHHHHHPRIUI. I
HALL TIM TOE
NGPPFOO RARARSE
49508 USA, ISBN 1-55755-043-3), a wee bit sensa
tionalist perhaps, but with plenty of interest for the tech
buff.
For Amiga and ST owners a possible to try is Com
puter Viruses by Ralph Roberts ($14.95 from PO Box
8459, Asheville, NC 28814, USA, ISBN 0:87455-178
1). Its not specifically aimed at those machines but
mentions them them rather more than the other two
which are very PC-Mac based
24 Hour
DISPATCH
(Subject to availability)
ATARI ST RRP OUR ATARI ST КЕР OUR AMIGA RRP OUR
Double Dragon.
T Olympic Challenge
Dungeon Master
Еме
3.5 DS DD Disks
Unbranded 135tpi
£9.95 for box of ten
Mini Office Pro: Comm
Mini Office Pro-Spread
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18 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
SHAREWARE ADVANTAGE
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- JUST £3 A DISC
SPECIAL! ZORTECH CHECK IT!
* VIRUS EARLY WARNING SYSTEM £39.95
WORD PROCESSING.
'C-Write Quicksoft's Multi-function Word Processor.
€ PC-Type« Powerful WP. Fast Spelling Checker, Undo.
On-line Help. 3 Discs. Documentation on Disc 4.
ail Text editor with windowed multi-file mode.
€ Galaxy New version of this popular easy to use WP with
Rulldàwn menus and speling checker Discs
€ Mindreader Brown Bags unique learning WP which can
speed up your typing and reduce errors.
C-Outline Popular brain storming, idea processor.
eeliing Checker with updateable directory.
Stylist Analyse your writing for style and readability
ypewriter Emulator For those quick messages, addresses etc.
SPREADSHEETS & DATABASES
€ PC-CALC+ Multi-feature spreadsheet 52 col, 618 row. 3 Discs.
As-Easy-As Spreadsheet which is 123 compatible.
€ Qubecalc А novel 3-dimensional spreadsheet.
€ PC-File« V2 Popular Database with mailmerge. 3 Discs.
С File-dB dBase power at shareware prices. HD 3 Discs.
X5 Card Index simulates the manual system (limited sort)
€ Dream Multi-feature relational database system for
custom -design applications. 3 Discs.
€ Wampum Powerful implementation of dBase Ill language НО 2 Discs
HOME AND BUSINESS FINANCE
reeway Cashbook UK home accounts & budget. 2 Discs.
‘ast Bucks Comprehensive home accounts & budget. 2 Discs.
оте Inventory/Home Insurance with report generator.
lome Loan Calculate interest. repay ро!
reeway Accounts Plus Popular UK Package complete
with Purchase, Sales & Nominal Ledgers. 3 Discs.
€ Freeway Payroll Latest up-to-date version. 3 Discs.
r Bill Customer billing and tracking. 2 Discs.
ime & Money Financial tracking with cash projection.
BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
© Business Graphics Line, Bar Graphs, Pie Charts. 2 Discs
€ 100 Standard Business Letters to use and adapt
€ EZ Forms standard forms to edit and use.
tock Control System Powerful aid to any business.
utomated Planning Useful suite of planning aids.
roject Management Critical Path Analysis, Gantt Charts.
he Front Office Sales Tracking system. 2 Discs.
sie Expert System Shell: Artificial Intelligence
C-Mail Mailing list system and label printer. 2 Discs.
ro-Comm Menu-driven communications. 2 Discs.
'C-Dial Buttonware communications program
ТО Codes in Numerical order with corresponding exchanges
@ Desk Commando User definable menu, DOS shell, Text
Editor, Scientific Calculator, Calendar, Appointments Diary.
ө PC-Deskteam Handy calculator. notepad. diary, DOS access.
lomebase Shareware Sidekick. Calculator, WP, Database.
Calendar, Notepad, Communications, DOS access. 3 Discs.
PROGRAMMING SPECIAL INTEREST
© Basic Interpreter Write and run standard GWBASIC/BASICA
аса! Compiler А good introduction to Pascal
istic Pascal compiler and editor
ова 2 Compier fully operational compiler, editor, Inker
and on-disc manual. 2 Discs,
Ф Prolog, The language for Атіка! Inteligence
EM Version of LOGO - ideal for teaching programming.
LISP New version of ihe Аліса Inteligence Language
fecompiler.
Tools Useful collection of C source code. 2 Di
иро Pascal Tools Collection of source code. 4 Discs.
© Tutorials each a 2-Disc set: C TUTOR ' TURBO C TUTOR *
PASCAL TUTOR * TURBO PASCAL TUTOR * MODULA-2 TUTOR
WHY ARE THE PRICES SO LOW?
ADVANTAGE only offer shareware which is fully
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ply comprehensive pre-sales advice and information
1 the programs. ig
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EDUCATIONAL
€ PC-Tutor Well-presented course on computers & DOS.
© Helpdos All you need to know about DOS.
© Fastype Popular multi-option PC typing course.
© Amanda's Letters Lotto (Age 2-4) Teaches keyboard and
letter recognition and co-ordination,
€ ABC Funkeys (Age 2-5) Colourful way to learn letters.
© Amy's First Primer (Age 3-6) Six games teaching basic
letter and arithmetic skills.
© Children's Games (Age 5-8) Five educational games:
Alphabet, Animals, Clockgame, Hangman and Mosaic.
© Educational Selection (Age 6-10) Hangman (word
guessing), Funnels and Buckets, (arithmetic), Polyglot
(word matching) and Children's Word Processor.
© Word Games Opposites, Word Find, Jobs, Synonyms, Odd
Word Out, Categories, Comparisons, Plurals, Verbs (Age 6-Adult)
© Phraze Craze Learn word and phrase skills (Age 7-12).
€ Wiz Quiz (Age 6-12) Quiz-based maths tutorial.
€ Maths Tutor (6-Adult) Covers basic to advanced maths
© Statistics Over 20 stat analysis functions. 3 Discs.
€ GCSE Physics Revision Novel way to learn Physics.
€ GCSE Computer Science Revision Novel way to learn.
© Calculus Tutorial Teach yourself Calculus.
@ Nightsky The latest version of the computer planetarium.
@ Test & Train Build your own training program.
© Foreign languages each on a single disc: * FRENCH TUTOR *
GERMAN TUTOR * ITALIAN TUTOR * SPANISH TUTOR.
D.I.Y. COMPUTING
© Power Menu Brown Bag s easy to use hard disc menu system.
€ Auto Menu Design your own menu for your hard disc.
© DBS KAT Catalogging system for hard disc.
€ LO A selection of many different printer fonts to enhance
your WP text. Memory resident.
© Fontastic Introduction to DTP with font editor. 2 Discs.
@ Essential Utilities Over 40 of the best available
© Text Processing Utilities Printer Control, Spooler, Print
Sideways Tally Word Counter, Filters, Fogfinder, Lister.
© Baker's Dozen Thirteen useful programs from Buttonware.
€ Disk Commando Norton utilities at Shareware prices.
© Ultra Utilities "Disc Doctor" with unerase & sector editor.
€ Master Key Powerful sector and file editor for hard disc.
@ Packdisc Eliminates file fragmentation, economise &
speed up your hard disk system.
@ Archive System Save up to half your backup discs.
© Hypershell Menu, text presentation and management system.
© Signsmith Create your own posters and letter head.
@Family History One of the best shareware genealogy
programs with documentation and examples. 2 Discs.
© Family Ties Easy to use Menu-driven Genealogy program
@ Astrol-95 Plot astrological charts and horoscopes.
€ VCR Database for catalogging videos, LP's etc.
Recipe System Database offers many useful recipes.
C Sport League table generator.
log Log Monitor and track your performance
€ World Extensive gazeteer of places in the World.
© Crossword Creator all you need to create your own puzzles.
@ Crossword Solver and anagram generator with dictionary.
ifts Ideas Generator Ideal at Birthdays and Anniversaries.
jomposer Create, play & save tunes using on-screen stave.
ianoman Turn your PC keyboard into a musical one
© Bible Quiz Quiz game based on the Holy Bible.
© The Entire King James Bible - 11 Disc Set!
© PC Key Draw The latest version of this amazing shareware
Desk Тор Publisher and scale drawing system. 3 Discs.
C Key-Draw Picture & Font Library and Utilities
ingerpaint Painti ng program runs on MSDOS not GEM.
lo-Draw text and graphics editor. 2 Discs.
ancad Accurate 3D frame drawing and animation. 2 Discs.
age-3D creates amazing 3 dimensional drawings on ССАЕСА
€ EGA Pinups A selection of saucy hi-resolution pictures.
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PROGRAMS FOR PLEASURE
е next generation - up to date new version.
© Star Trek The original classic game.
@ Pinball Wizard A choice of five different pintables.
@ Pinball Fanatic Five more different pintables.
€ PC Jokes Practical jokes for the unsuspecting PC user.
© Get Lucky Adult Trivial Quiz and strip poker games.
© Adult Humour Large collection of rather rude jokes.
© Wheel О! Misfortune Based on the TV word-guessing game.
© Opus-1 Extensive general knowledge quiz.
© Trivia Quiz Many questions, 5 categories. 2 Discs.
© Trek Trivia Fascinating quiz based on the famous TV series.
© Music Trivia Quiz based on musical questions.
© Game Of Life Fascinating presentation of Conways game.
€ War Game of strategy. Takes hours rather than days.
€ Empire & Prince Life-cycle survival strategy games.
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€ Scrabble Good implementation of the board game.
@ Sleuth Exciting murder mystery solving game.
© Word Domination The classic game of risk and strategy.
© Chess & Checkers Good quality full screen graphic versions.
€ Chinese Checkers Unusual 6-sided version of draughts.
€ Mahjong and Solitaire (Patience) (need ССА).
© Poker, Canasta and Heart 3 classic card games.
€ Gin Rummy & Ultima-2 Two card game simulations.
© Blackjack & Pontoon - Pontoon is memory resident
© Two Bridges Two versions of the card дате
€ Quimbee (Yahtzee) and Five. Two diced-based games.
ADVENTURE GAMES
© Golden Wombat Of Destiny Intriguing and unusual adventure
© Hack (Amulet Of Yendor) Extensive role-playing adventure.
€ Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy role-playing adventure
© Colossal Cave Adventure The one that started it.
€ Cave Quest Sent to Earth to seek fame and fortune.
© Supernova Complex game set in deep space.
@ Intercept & Mutant Invasion Two Sci-fi adventures
© Dark Continent & Nebula Two games by same author.
@ Aventureware Five separate adventures on different themes
€ New York Adventure & Braminar You set the gameplay.
© Buttonware Adventures Two educational games.
€ Jacaranda Jim Offbeat and amusing UK adventure.
@ Adult Adventure The text and graphics are rather graphic.
GAMES COMPENDIUMS
Each disc contains a selection of quality machine code
games featuring graphics and sound. Keyboard and
joystick play.
© Classic Games - Space Invaders, Pacman, Pacgirl, Ribi
Breakout, Donkey Kong Q-Bert. Jumping Joo
© Fun & Games - Pango, Baby, Elevator, Centipede,
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€ Come In Peace - Striker, Paratrooper, Round 42, Sopwith.
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ө Space Warriors - Quantoids, Rescue Flightmare.
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€ Keep Them Amused Burger Blaster, Grime, Racer, Ninja,
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© Block & Tackle Nemon. Qix, Xonix, Blockade, Daleks, Berzerk
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© Skill & Strategy - Sail (Yachting -not 1512) Teed Off (Golf)
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© Wit Your Pits Brainstorm, Battleships, Word Puzzle, Rogue.
© Mazing Games - Polymase, Amaze, 3-Demon, Castle, Chase.
€ PC Challenge - Chess, Othello, Entrap, PC Golf, Air Traffic.
Junior Challenge - 3D TicTacTo, Dotto, Willy The Worm,
Labbits & Voldrons. Draughts.
© Mono Games A selection of 18 games for non-CGA PC. 2 Ок.
€ The EGA Collection Mahjong, Risk, Breakout, Wheel Of
Fortune specially for EGA computers. 2 Discs.
€ Spy Catcher, Master Spy, Raiders, Hostages, Brimstone,
Mad Scientist
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owner they'll impress you
by saying how their
machine can multi-task.
But what exactly is this
multi-tasking business
everyone keeps talking
about?
Peter Worlock explains
everything, strictly one
thing at a time...
here comes a time in every computer user's
life — recompiling a program, sorting a large
database, printing a 60-page document -
when you think there has to be a better way
of working. You sit there, drinking coffee, or
doodling pictures of PCs with axes through them,
or simply staring in disbelief while your machine
chunters away.
Of course, it is accomplishing something ... but
you're doing nothing.
The obvious solution is to find some way of
forcing the computer to do more than one thing at
a time. In fact, the technique has been in use for
years on mini and mainframe computers and is
known as multitasking. But as the personal
computer has become more powerful,
multitasking is increasingly an option for
individuals using small machines
Though to call multitasking one technique is
inaccurate, because there are several different
ways of achieving similar ends. Each has benefits
and drawbacks.
Pop-up utilities
The normal mode of operation for most personal
computers is to run one program at a time. But
this can present problems since few of us work
that way: we constantly switch between a
number of minor tasks, looking up an address
when writing a letter, or making quick use of a
calculator, or jotting notes while engaged in other
applications.
But making those kinds of changes in traditional
software usually takes more time and trouble than
it's worth. You have to quit your current
application, probably switch disks, load up the
second program then quit that, swap disks and re-
load the original software.
The first solution was the use of desktop
accessories, pop-up programs, or TSRs - three
different names for the same technique. Desktop
accessories are usually found in windowing
operating systems like those on the Macintosh, ST
and Amiga. TSR stands for Terminate and Stay
Resident and describes the method of creating
desktop accessories on MS-DOS systems.
Both kinds of programs are also called pop-ups,
simply because they pop up over another
application.
Pop-ups are almost always the small-but-useful
programs like notepads, calculators and address
books, but have been extended to encompass
fully-fledged word processors and spreadsheets.
So if you're working in a word processor and
need a calculator you can call one up from a menu
(if you're running a windowing system) or by a
special “hotkey” sequence (if you're in MS-DOS).
The pop-up appears in a small window over the
main application, then vanishes once you're
finished with it.
Task switching
Eventually it occurred to several software
publishers that if it was possible to temporarily
switch from a major application to a minor one,
why not provide a way to switch between two
major programs
There are now a number of utilities that provide
this facility: the Macintosh has Switcher, the ST
has Hisoft's Twister, and MS-DOS boasts several
programs. Even humble 8-bit micros like the
Amstrad PCW are getting in on the act. (The
Amiga doesn't need this facility, as we'll see.)
There are two ways of achieving this end. Both
depend on a small program that acts as
supervisor in the
system, and both
allow you to load two
or more programs
into memory. Where
they differ is in the
handling of the
separate programs.
One method is to
segment the available
memory, turning a
single computer into
as many virtual
machines as
necessary. The
second way is load
only the core parts of
each program while
everything else
remains on disk.
The advantage of
the first method is
that switching
between applications
is almost
instantaneous,
whereas the second
requires that the
current program is
almost entirely saved
to disk before the
second ^ application
gains control of the
computer. Even with
a fast hard disk there
are noticeable delays
using this method
Multitasking
In the case of both
pop-up programs, and switchers, the computer
isn't really multitasking — it isn't actually doing
more than one thing at a time. Whenever you
switch from one application to another, the former
goes into hibernation until you return to it.
For many purposes this is an adequate solution,
but there are tasks where it would be useful to
have the computer carry on with the first task
while you turn your attention to a second. This is
true multitasking.
Computers offering this facility include the
Amiga, and PCs, Macintoshes and others running
a multitasking operating system such as OS/2,
Windows/366, Desqview, Multifinder or Unix, to
name but a few.
In one sense, multitasking is a straightforward
development of the switcher: the computer
Switches between the tasks in cyclical fashion
and at regular and very brief intervals. Apple took
this route when it developed Switcher into the
multitasking Multifinder.
Within this simple view of multitasking there is
room for one or two variations. The first is known
as simple time-slicing and awards a fixed portion
of the processor's time to each task. However,
different parts of a program will obviously fail to
fit this simple division of labour since certain
instructions take longer to execute than others. It
would be inefficient to have the processor break
off a task and return to it later if the task could
easily be completed in a few more microseconds
To overcome this drawback, the proce
ior
* Multitasking is the ability to perform two or more operations simultaneously
moves between tasks in a cycle, but awards time
to each task in a more logical fashion. This allows
a processorintensive program, like maths
calculation, more time than a program which
spends most of its time waiting for input from the
keyboard.
A third approach to multitasking makes no
attempt at fairness. This makes use of interrupts
and priorities. As the processor executes the first
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989 • 21
os
BEGINNERS ВИИИ.
Spool the other one
The specific case of speeding up printing operations
has a cheaper solution than a multitasking operating
system: the humble print spooler.
The spooler is a small program which works in
conjunction with a chunk of memory. Since the slow-
down in print operations arises from the fact that the
computer can transmit information faster than the
printer can receive it, the answer is simply to stuff the
information into a temporary store – the memory.
This allows the computer to carry on with other
tasks. Meanwhile, the spooler program sends the data
to the printer at a rate the printer can handle.
The cheapest solution is to buy a software spooler
which makes use of the computer's own memory.
However, this does take memory away from other
applications, which could be a crucial drawback.
Better, but more expensive, is the hardware spooler
- a black box that sits between the computer and
printer. A secondary advantage of the hardware
spooler is that it will provide far more memory —
typically 64K to 256K - than you could afford to take
from the computer.
Prices start at around £75 for a 64K buffer.
Software spoolers range from around £30 for
commercial products, to nothing at all for public
domain programs.
program it watches for interrupts from others.
When an interrupt occurs, the processor checks
the priority of the interrupting program and if it
has higher priority than the currently executing
application, ditches the current task and switches
to the second
If the interrupting program has a lower priority
the processor ignores it until the current program
gives it sufficient time to answer the demand
The opposite of this method, called pre-emptive
multitasking, is cooperative multitasking where
high-priority programs must specifically allow the
processor to attend to other tasks. In this case
poorly written software can hog the processor, as
well as other system resources like memory, the
stack, device drivers and so on, so that the
computer is never allowed to multitask
Will it work for you?
So much for the theory. In practice multitasking is
a grand illusion: it should be obvious that when
you have a single computer with a single
processor it can only do one thing at a time. The
key is that the computer can execute millions of
instructions every second, so by doing a few
instructions from one program, then a few from
another, and so on, it appears to us humans as
though several things are ^ happening
simultaneously.
In its crudest form, any
computer is capable of multi
tasking and most do. When
ever you encounter a computer
- whether a Sinclair Spectrum
or a 386 PC - playing a jaunty
tune while alien spaceships
sweep Earthwards, you're
hearing and seeing multi
tasking in action. In fact, there
is far more multitasking in the
average game than in the
average business application.
The obvious question is why
that should be so. If
multitasking is so powerful,
why is it so little used?
The answer lies in that
speed difference between
humans and computers. The
computer can complete most
* The Amiga 500: A multitasking micro
tasks before the human operator is ready to move
on to other things. The tasks mentioned at the
beginning of this article — compiling large
programs, sorting large databases, and printing
documents ~ are the exceptions
So while multitasking can improve the efficiency
of your computer, it can only do so in certain
circumstances, namely those in which it is the
computer that is slowing things down and not
you
Moreover, multitasking is expensive in terms of |
hardware. You need a fast computer — otherwise
each task executes excruciatingly slowly — and
lots of memory. Although the Amiga 500 is a true
multitasking computer, you'll find it difficult to
use with the standard 512K of RAM since that is
barely sufficient for a single program, let alone
three or four
So for most users, a combination of task
switching and pop-up programs will prove more
valuable and more economical - than a true
multitasking environment. @
A SELECTION OF TITLES FROM PRENTICE HALL
occam 2
MASTERING FORTH
Revised & Expanded Second Edition
MARTIN TRACY
& ADVANCED MICROMOTION
The most complete beginner’s tutorial on
the Forth programming language available.
The book covers the commands required in
FORTH-83 Standard, the programming
dialect popular in the Forth Interest Group
Hacker Community, and MasterForth, an
advanced dialect developed by the author
and used by professionals and scholars.
1989 300 pages 13-559957-1 £17.95
Paperback
THINKING FORTH
LEO BRODIE
This instructive guide illustrates the 'elegant
logic’ behind FORTH and shows you how
to apply specific problem-solving tools to
software, regardless of your programming
situation
1986 224 pages 13-917568-7 £14.75
Paperback
Prices are correct at the time of going to
press but may be subject to c
THE BIBLE...
STARTING FORTH
Second Edition
LEO BRODIE
A revision of the bestselling introduction to
the Forth programming language. An
engaging volume which provides a thorough
beginner's tutorial on the Forth
programming language and operating
system. The Second Edition conforms to
the Forth-83 Standard.
1987 304 pages 13-843079-9 £20.95
Paperback
FORTH:
A Text and Reference
MAHLON KELLY & NICHOLAS SPIES
Turning readers into accomplished Forth
programmers, this book provides a
compendium of tools and techniques as
well as complete coverage of the words and
functions of the language.
1986 224 pages 13-326331-2 £20.85
Paperback
Reference Manual
INMOS Limited
A definitive document on the
occam 2 programming language.
Written by experienced occam
programmers at INMOS Ltd,
where the language was
developed, the manual provides
full coverage of how the language
may be applied.
1988 144 pages 13-629312-3
£15.95 Paperback
occam
Programming Manual
INMOS Limited
clearly written, informative
and well produced
outstanding as a programming
SORS & MICROSYSTEMS
1985 100 pages 13-629296-8
£15.95 Paperback
occam and occam? are registered
trademarks of the INMOS group of
componies.
These titles are all in the Prentice Hall Internotional Series in Computer
Science, edited by C.A.R. Hoare. For more information on these or other
titles in the series, please write to Jean Walmsley, at the address below,
for our latest catalogue.
Programming in
occam 2
Geraint Jones &
Michael Goldsmith
A complete introduction to the
language and to pcrollel
programming. Jones and
Goldsmith introduce occam-2,
illustrating the way the language
can be used and use a large
number of examples which
demonstrate the application of
parallel programming strategies to
real problems.
1988 318 pages 13-730334-3
£15.95 Paperback
Programming in
occam
Geraint Jones &
Michael Goldsmith
a readable and sound
treatise on how to think and
program concurrently.’
S
HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT
1987 192 pages 13-729773-4
£15.95 Paperback
PRENTICE HALL
66 Wood L
SIMON & SCHUSTER INTERNAT
ne End, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. HP2 4RG. England.
IONAL GROUP
22 NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS * 18 MARCH 1989
HOMESOFT (UK)
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LATTES COMMODORE 64
Will you still ne
me (when I'm 6
Launched back in 1982, the
phenomenally successful _
Commodore 64 is now
approaching world wide
sales of 10 million units.
Rik Haynes tries to answer
the C64 million dollar
question: how did it do it?
hy is the C64 the most popular micro in
the world? Of course the C64's balance
between good specification and attractive
pricing wooed many a computer buyer.
But probably the underlying driving force of the
С64'5 success was Commodore's founder and
computer selling guru, Jack Tramiel
Tramiel had quite a turbulent life before setting
up Commodore, he lost all his immediate family to
the horrors of the Nazi concentration camp at
Auschwitz during the war but he managed to
escape to America and start his own typewriter
repair company called Commodore. In the 1970s
Commodore moved from typewriters to
calculators and eventually went on to produce
personal computers in the late 705
Boom and gloom |
The next five years saw Commodore repeat |
success with even better success as it launched |
the Pet, the VIC-20 and then the C64 in 1982. With |
the C64 Commodore seemed to have hit the micro
jackpot, with a micro capable of so much but at an |
affordable price.
With the micro industry booming during 1983.
the C64 went straight to the top of the sales |
charts and found a place in computer enthusiasts
hearts around the
world
Then in January
1984 just as Comm
odore's sales were at
an all-time high, Jack
Tramiel resigned as
Commodore's chief
executive officer and
ceased to be a dir
ector. In the process,
Commodore had not
only lost its founding
father but also gained
a tough competitor,
for Tramiel bought
Commodore's arch
rival Atari from War
ner Bros later that
year.
As soon as Tramiel
left Commodore, a
worrying migration of
disillusioned exec:
utive staff left Comm
odore, with many of
them going on to
Atari. This coupled with the general and marked
drop in worldwide micro sales started to throw
Commodore from profit into loss. To make matters
worse, Commodore tried to release a new range
of micros that were completely incompatible with
the C64
We're alright, Jack
Despite all these setbacks, one constant factor
kept Commodore going - the popularity of the
C64. Throughout the world, programmers had |
been lured to the C64 facilities which easily
outshone the competition. Software developers
took the C64 one step further by producing a
string of high quality games which helped
|
ROBOEO!
| goodies to induce the prospective first-time micro
catapult the C64 to new heights of popularity and
success
Through the years the C64 has attracted some
impressive, incredible and plain old classic games
such as Armalyte, The Last Ninja I and II, Delta
Wizball Archon, Leaderboard, Encounter
Ghostbusters and of course the superlative
International Soccer
After all its mistakes
zt]
2| (cB
|
and miscalculations
Commodore is firmly back in shape, and looking
to replace the C64 with its Amiga. Obviously, Jack
Tramiel and his Atari ST is in the running too. But
the C64 can still put these two micros straight
into last position when you look at its huge
software base and loyal following.
The postmicro boom days have seen the
humble C64 bundled with a constant variation of
buyer to purchase a C64 starter pack
The current batch of bundles for the C64 are
made up of the Commodore Hollywood Box (C64,
C2N datacassette unit, joystick and games based
on a film/television theme from Ocean and
Domark - price £149.99) and the Commodore
Home Entertainment Pack (C64, C2N datacassette
unit, joystick, bundled games software, Bush
Well I never!
Thirteen accounts of instantly forgettable Commodore
and C64 trivia...
* Jack Tramiel resigned from Commodore on Friday the
thirteenth... he eventually went on to buy Commodore's
arch rival Atari.
* The first title released from US Gold was a C64 game
imported from the States called Beach Head.
* General Alexander Haig was appointed to
Commodore's board of directors in June 1984 — with
Commodore chairman Irving Gould commenting, “his
experience and reputation will be very helpful to us”.
* In January 1985, The IBA (Independent Broadcasting
Authority) banned the Commodore C64 TV ads
featuring Maureen the Circus Elephant, following
[ые
nationwide public pressure from animal lovers and the
RSPCA who felt putting a grown Elephant into a giant
pair of boxer shorts rather excessive and unnecessary.
Surely not?
* Apparently 300,000 C64's were sold in June 1984
alone.
* Commodore funded an experiment in 1983 to aid
"Virginia Brauer, a supervisor of a Californian safari park,
to teach Isaac the chimp to spell using a C64 and
some special custom designed programs.
* C64 programming fanatics have found many
unofficial bugs in VICI and ways of improving the C64's
graphics and sound facilities to produce such effects
as more than eight sprites, 4 channel sound-effects, full
screen display and the illusion of more than 16 colours.
* Commodore gained The Royal Warrant in 1984.
* The Daily Mirror ran a competition with £20,000 of
C64 prizes in 1983, which prompted one of its biggest.
reader competition responses with over 600,000
entries.
* Commodore announced a shirt advertising deal with
first division football team Chelsea, worth 1.25 million
to the club, in September 1987. Of course, Chelsea
were relegated to the second division at the end of that.
season.
* Before it closed down, Commodore's plant at Corby
reportedly produced 1.3 million C64s.
* Certain industry pundits are suggesting that as many
as 35% of C64s sold over the Christmas 1988 period
were returned faulty.
* Commodore produced a totally innovative software
product for the C64 back in 1982 called The Home
Babysitter cartridge designed "to keep your youngest
child occupied for hours and teaches special learning
concepts and relationships". Wow, don't leave home
without loading it. —
[5]
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS * 18 MARCH 1989 • 25
Keep it in the Commodore family
1976 PET announced, with 6502 microprocessor, 4K
or 8K RAM and builtin green phosphor screen
and cassette deck, and a keyboard with
calculator-type keys.
1977 PET launched at Chicago Consumer Electronics
Show in June, price $795
1980 VIC-20 announced at Chicago CES in June, with
6502 microprocessor, 5K RAM, colour, sound,
and compact full size typewriter style keyboard.
1981 VIC-20 launched at Las Vegas CES in January,
price $299.95.
1982 C64 and Ultimax announced at Las Vegas CES
in January. The Ultimax was a cross between a
micro and a console with only 2K RAM
(unexpandable), same VICI and SID graphics
and sound chips as C64, and a membrane
keyboard – Ultimax was never launched.
1982 C64 available for limited sale only in US indie
retail outlets in September, price $595.
1982 Just before Christmas, approximately 200
adapted C64s from the States were grey
imported into the UK by some dealers.
1983 SX-64 launched at Las Vegas CES in January.
The SX64 was a “portable” version of the C64
with builtin colour monitor, single- or dual disk
drive capacity and detachable keyboard. The
SX-64 probably never took off due to its
immense size and weight which made it more
of a luggable than a portable.
1983 Early 1983 saw the C64 on general release
personal stereo and a Yamaha electronic keyboard
price £199.99).
The seven year itch
Now the C64 is seven years old, you may think it's
getting too long in the tooth and way past its
prime but you couldn't be more wrong.
tial five figure salary, please do not apply
Emlyn Hughes International Soccer has just been aw arded the accolad
OF THE YEAR by Commodore Computing. Now we need to put this and other sports
Write to: NIGEL ALDERTON, SOFTWARE MANAGER, AUDIOGENIC SOFTWARE LTD,
Winchester House, Canning Road, Harrow HA3 78J.
or telephone 01-861 1166 between 10 am and 7 pm.
-
with a price drop to $399 and the C64 was
officially released in the UK
1983 The micro price wars began in August when
Commodore slashed the C64 price from £345
to £229.
1984 C16 and Plus/4 announced at Las Vegas CES
in January. The Plus/4 had 64K RAM, 6502
compatible processor, new graphics chip, built-
in business software and restyled keyboard.
While the C16 had the same processor and
graphics chip as Plus/4, 16K RAM and slightly
modified C64 keyboard. Unfortunately, both
micros were incompatible with the C64 and this
ultimately caused their downfall.
1984 Amiga Computer, Inc demonstrated the state-
of-the-art Amiga Lorraine 68000-based micro to
a select few at Chicago CES in June.
1984 Commodore purchased Amiga Computer, Inc in
August.
1985 C128 launched at Las Vegas CES in January.
1985 Amiga previewed to invited guests only at
London PCW Show in September.
1985 Commodore confirmed its plan to drop the
Plus/4 and C16 micros in September.
1986 Amiga publicly seen at Birmingham Which
Computer? Show in January.
1986 Restyled C64c launched at Chicago CES in
June, with new style keyboard and bundled
GEOS WIMP operating system.
Obviously as the 16-bit machines become ever
more increasingly popular, they'll take an even
larger bite of the micro market — but the C64 is
still alive and kicking and this situation looks set
to continue way into the 1990's. After all, in its
time the C64 has seen and fought off the other 8
bit competition including the Spectrum and CPC -
and has totally wiped the floor with the poor Atari
eee
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or send C.V.'s and DEMOS to:
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Reptilia Design requires programmers to work in
house on the Spectrum 48k/128k and Commodore
800, Texas Instruments Т1-44
Commodore's own C16 and Plus/4
After all if any 8-bit micro can seriously
compete with the superior 16-bit machines, the
C64 — with its attractive pricing and specification,
huge software base and loyal user following
must surely be the one with the best fighting
chance. Only time will tell... @
[Specs speak louder than words
6510 microprocessor « 64K RAM • 16K ROM • VICI
(Video Interface Chip) capable of displaying 40x25
text, 320x200 resolution, 16 colours, 8 sprites and
hardware facilities for pixel smooth horizontal and
vertical scrolling • SID (Sound Interface Device)
producing 3 channel mono sound with filter control
and triangle, sawtooth, pulse and noise wave
generators • Builtin BASIC (V2.0) • Full size
typewriter style keyboard suitable for touch typing
with 8 programmable function keys • User port,
serial port, cartridge port, disk drive and cassette
ports, RF/TV output, Composite Video output, and 2
Atari-style game controller ports
C128
3 modes of operation: C64 mode (99.9% compatible
with C64), C128 mode and CP/M mode • 8502
microprocessor (6510 compatible) • Z80A
microprocessor • 128K RAM • 72K ROM • VICI and
SID custom graphics and sound chips « C128 only
video chip displaying 80x25 text and 640x200
resolution • Builtin BASIC (V7.0) and machine code
monitor « Full size typewriter style keyboard with
numeric keypad, separate cursor and control keys,
and 8 programmable function keys * Same range of
ports as C64 plus Audio Output/Input ports and
Digital RGBI Video output
and even
JOBS
immediately on
(01) 533 2918
A good knowledge of machine code in either 68000 or 8086 is required.
There are also positions for Z80 and 6502 programmers wishing to learn
a new language. You will be working in a stimulating environment with
a dynamic team of top programmets; on very powerful computer
equipment rarely seen in the games industry.
64. If you think you are talented
a game from one format to another then write
examples of your work to:
enough to convert
with
Reptilia Design,
Unit 27, 33 Noble Square,
Basildon, SS13 1LT
We are the leading creator of 3 dimensional games like the award
winning Star Glider series, and are now working on new exciting game
and simulation products to be the hits of 1989 and 1990!
Top Salaries paid according to Experience, Ability and Performance.
For Further Details phone Ian or Mick
Contact Jez San or Richard Clucas at our North London Offices on between 12pm and 7pm on (0268) 590571
Tel: (01) 906 3744, Fax: (01) 959 5052
Amiga Gold Hi
Arkanoid Rev
Armalyte
Asteroids
B
B
Bal. of Power 1
Balist
Barbarian 2
Bards Tale
Bards Tale 2
Batman Caped Cr
Battle Chess
Batllehawks
Calfornia Game
Capone
Captain В
Chessmaster 2000-1699.
Chronoque 799
Colossus Chess Х. 1699
mic Pirate 199
ed
zy Cars 2
ystal Castles. Я
Daley Thompson '88 11 99
ОМА Матог
Double Dragon
Dragon Ninja
Dragonscape
4 Off Road Racing! 3 99.
5 Star ST 14.99
F 16 Combat Pilot 1699.
3199
Ferrari Formula
F15 Strike Eagle
Fish
Flight Sim. 2
Fit Disc 7 or 11 3
Fit Disc European _. 1399
Fit Disc Japan 1399
Flying Shark 1498
Football Director 2.11.99
Football Manager 2.11.99
Frank Bruno Boxing 1299
Freedom
Fusion
Galactic Conqueror
Galdregon's Domain. 11.99
Game Over 2 13.99.
Garfield 1199
Garfield Winter ......11.99
Ghosts т! Goblins ...11 99.
Golden Path 799
Grand Prix Sim 2
Green Beret
Gryzor,
Gunship.
Hacker 1 or 2
Hardbal
Hawkeye
Hellfire Attack
Helter Skelter
Heroes of Lance
Highway Hawks
HK Mach
Hollywood Hijinx
Hostages.
Hot Football
Hybris
Hyperdrome
1 Ludicrous
с. Shrink. Sphe
Indiana Jone
попа Baci
кап Warriors.
Interceptor
Int. Karate +
Jet
Joan of Arc
Joe Blade 2
Joust
Kennedy Approach
Kristal
Lancelot
c Мери
Operation Wolf
Qutrun Europa
Pacland
Pacmania
Paperboy
Peter Beardsley
Phantom Fighter
Pioneer Plague
Рао
Pool of Radiance
Populous
Powerdrom
Pro Soc
Psion Che
Road Blasters
Robocop
Roger Rabbit
Rolling Thunder
R-Type
Running Man
Run the Gaunt
Savage
rabble Deluxe
Shadowgate
Shoot 'e
Silent Serv
Strip Poker 2
Data Discs
Bev & Dawn
Lee & Roy
Rachel & kim
Suzanne & Bianca
Superbase Personal
Super Breakout
Supercyce
Super Hangon
Superman
Sword of Sodan
Tass Times
jeenage Queen
Test Drive
Thunderblade
Tiger Ro.
Time 8 Magik
Tracers
1 Manager
Ultimate Golf
Uninvited
Univ. Miltary Sim
UMS Scenario 1
UMS Scenario 2
Victory Road
Vindicators (Domark
Virus
Wanderer.
War in Middle Earth
WEC Le Mans
Weird Dreams
Wizbal
Xenon
Zany бо!
TITLE SPECTRUM CBM 64
Cass Disc
Ace 9 4.99
Ace 2 9 499
Ace of Aces
Afterburner.
Ar
128
drome
Andy Capp
Archon Collection
Arc of Yesod
Arkanoid 2 Revenge
BailBreaker
Barbarian Psygnos:
Barbarian 2 Palace
Bards Tale 1
Bards Tale 2
Best of Beyond
Best of Elite Vol 1
Best of Elite Vol
Blackbeard
Blood Valley
Bombuzal
Bounces
Buggy Boy
Captain Blood
Carrier Command
Chessmaster 2000
Chuck Yeager
Circus 699
Classic Collection.
1.00
еВ 99
6.50
499
650
Dark Fusion 599
Dark Side 699
Deflektor
Denaris 699
Derek Bells Le Mans:
DNA Warrior .......6.50.
DoomDarks Revenge 2.99.
Double Dragon .....6.50
Dragon Ninja.......6.50
Dragon's Lair... 299.
DragonSlayer
Druid 2.00
Dynamite Dan 2
Earthight 3.99
Elimmator 650
E. Hughes Footbail 6.99
Empire
е Sirkes Back 699
Espionage. 6.50
Exploding Fist +5.00.
4 x 4 Off Road Racingé. 99
Fair Means or Foul 5.99
Fast Break
Fernandez Must Die6 99.
Final Frontier
Final Matrix 2.00
Fish
Fists & Thvotles 8.50
Five Computer Hits 3.99.
Five Star 2 699
Flight A 9.99
Fox Fights Back... 6.00
Football Director... 6.50.
F15 Strike Eagle....6.99.
F16 Combat Pilot....9.99
Football Manager. 2.99
Football Manager 2.6.99
Freddy Hardest... 299
Game Over 3.50
GameOver2... 699
Game Set & Match 2.8.99
Garfield 600
Garfield Winter....6.00
Gauntlet 299
Giants 1050
G. Lineker Holshol. 6.99
Grand Prix Circuit
Grand Prix Sim. 2 .2 99
Guerilla Wars.......500
Gunship 6.99
Head Coach .......2 99
Head Over Heels.
Heartland 200
Hellfire Attack ....6.99
Heroes of the Lance 6.99
Hive 200
НК Machine... 6.99
Hostages
Ikari Warriors... 5.99.
ne. Shrinking Sphere 6 99
Ingrids Back.........999
"nt. Karate 299
Into Eagles Nest
Jailbreak
Jet Bike Simulator
Karate Ace. 1050
Konami Colection.. 6.50
Krakout 299
Lancelot 999
Laser Squad 699
Last Duel 699
Last Ninja
Last Ninja 2 899
UBoard Par 3... 10.99
UBoard Par 4
LED Storm. 699
Мад Мах
Modem Wars
Motor Massacre
SPECTRUM
Muncher (T Wrecks)5.99
Nether World
Neuromance
Nigel Mansell GP
Night Raider
Nodes of Yesod
Obliterator
Operation Neptune.
Operation Мо!
Outrun.
Overlord
Pacland.
Pacmania
Patton vs Rom
Peter Beardsley
PHM Peg
Pirates
Pool of Radiance
Power at Sea.
Power Play Hockey
Predator
699
President is Missing
Pro Soccer (CRL)
Pro Soccer Sim
Purple Saturn Day
Question of Sport
Rack Em
Raffles
Rambo 3
Realm of Trolis
Red October
Red Storm Rising
Renegade 3
Return ofJedi
Rex
Revs
Robocop
Rocket Ranger
Rock Star
Roy of Rovers.
R-Type.
Run the Gauntiet
Rygar
Samurai Trilogy
Samurai Warrior
Sanxion
Savage
5 01. (Activision)
Sentinel
Serve & Volley
Shockway Rider
Short Circuit
oot em U
лоо! Out
Sidewize
Silent Service
Skateball
Skate or Di
Space Ace
Space Bal
Spitting Image
Spy Hunter.
Spy v Spy Arctic
Stalingrad
Star Wars
Stealth Fighter
Strip Poker 2
Super Cycle
Super Dragon Siay
Super Hangon
Superman
Super Sprint
Super Sunday
699
6.50
6.50
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550
999
599
599
6.99
6.99
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499
650.
550
750
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699
10.50
6.99
299
299
7.50
699
699
650
299
ег
Supreme Challenges. 50
3D Pool
20 Chartbusters
Taipan.
Taito Coin Ops.
Target Renegade
Techno Cop
Terrapods.
The In Crowd.
The National
Thunderblade
Tiger Road
Times of Lore.
Time & Magik
Titan
Total Eclipse
Tour de Force
Tracksuit Manager
Train Escape
Trantor
Triv Pursuit
6.50
6.99
8.50
550
6.50
6.50
850
00
699
Triv Pursuit New Beg.
Twin Turbo УВ
Tyger Tyger.
Typhoon.
Ultimate Golf
Untouchables.
Victory Road
Vindicators (Domark)6.50.
Virus
Wanderer
550
599
War in Middle Earth 6.99.
We are the Champions 6.50.
WEC Le Mans
World Games.
Zak McKraken.
PREMIER MAIL ORDER, 8 Buckwins Square, Burnt Mills, Basildon, Essex 5513 1BJ
599
299
Disc
999
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CBM 64
Cass Disk
1295.
5.1095
995
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0.45
9.95
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1395
1995
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2.95
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299
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Please send cheques/PO.'s/Access/Visa No. with Order. P&P in UK on orders over £5.00, under £5.00 UK 50р per item. Europe £1.00 per item. Elsewhere £1.00 per item. Telephone orders ring:- 0268 590766
All payments to PREMIER MAIL ORDER. These offers are available by Mail Order Only
HANOVER FAIR ’89
SHOW REPORT
А A
ATARI | ДА
information system to help you find your way around.
Hanover's annual CeBit Computer Fair is the World's
biggest. This year 500,000 visitors are expected to walk
the 325,000 square metres of space taken by 3000
exhibitors. At Atari UK's invitation, Andy Storer joined
the crowds and prepared for visual overload.
hrow 14 journalists together in a 5 star hotel | Stacey will be there
for 18 hours before a show going on the size | tomorrow", "No, the
of 17 Olympias, and you have a party just | Super-ST, as you call
dying to be featured in the Eye's ‘Great | it, won't", "We have 5
Bores of Today" versions of the Folio
Throw in a delayed flight, a five course "No | planned", "At the end
Velle" cuisine and an unlimited supply of Jever | of this year every
Pilsner, and conversation takes on that peculiar | product you've heard
hack quality of enthusiastic cynicism. of will be out", "We
Stories of the shows in Vegas, L.A., Frisco, Paris, | want the real guy
Monte Carlo and the legendary Toshiba freebie to | who's buying power"
Japan - so legendary nobody went on it — are only And yes, next day,
interrupted by 'power talk' on the latest 386 | in amongst the mass
machines, comms upload problems and hard disk | of monitors, — key-
utilities. But reminiscences remain the delight of | boards and decks that
the day. At the ‘85 Olivetti journo's gig in Venice, | make up The Launch
for instance, the company celebrated their| Pad known as CeBit
conquest of 35% of the Italian market by hiring a | ‘89, Stacey was
whole island, taking over the Griti Palace, | indeed there. And in
arranging a midnight trip around the museum and | its final form this time.
running up a bill of 6 million Lire at Harry's Bar. | Available by June/
Hanover would no doubt become Hungover with | July, the 1 Meg Atari
ease. laptop looks and feels
enclave of Atari personnel and a few journalists | briefcase
* Just one of the 17 halls at the Hanover Show. Thankfully, there's an electronic visitor • The long awaited appearance of Stacey, the Atari laptop first shown at Comdex in a balsa
wood form! But here it's up and running and should sell well when it hits the streets in June.
green super-twist LCD screen on the inside lid
above a punchy keyboard and inlaid tracker ball
instead of a mouse. On the right hand side are
| two 720K drives, whilst over the left are serial and
parallel, joystick and mouse ports. Stacey runs
TOS V1.09 and is reported to run for about 4 hours
on its internal batteries. It'll come in at just under
£1,000.
Elsewhere on the Atari stand was a new mono
monitor, the SM194, costing around £1,600 and
offering 1280x960 resolution for its main intended
application, DTP work. Since Atari want to move
By 2am, the hotel bar plays host to a small | fine. A dark grey * The natty SM 194 19" mono monitor was the other new piece of kit on Atari's stand, that's if you
exterior discount the Pocket PC, the ATW 1 and the range of 13 calculators. But no sign of the Mega ST 1
lucky enough to catch them willing to let on. “Yes, opens to reveal a 9% the Super-ST - now affectionately dubbed the TT
28, NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
o =
HANOVER FAIR '89
SHOW REPORT
* Toshiba's giant laptop (above) brought new meaning to
the term ‘portability’. The display was actually running
off a life-size model,
* Fujitsu's stand (right) certainly contained some of the
most interesting developments, Besides the Voice
Communication Unit, its 3.5 inch 180 MByte hard disk
illustrated just how far technology has come since its
14.5 inch version of ten years ago
into “the high-end of the workstation
market" with their ATW 1 transputer
machine, it would seem this monitor will
also be perfect for the medium data
processing and scientific applications that
involves.
* Commodore's "Videobox’ for the Amiga А500 demonstrated the company's drive for low- printer, Toshiba's 30 foot
cost desktop video.
Otherwise, there
was no sign of the Atari
Unix machine but in a back
room was a prototype of the
‘Super ST’ Atari refers to as
the ‘TT’. This was rumoured
to be just an ST running on a
68030 chip and showing off
ultra-fast animated graphics,
but the final machine, |
claimed to be available by |
September, will also offer
1280x960 resolution and 2
Mb of RAM.
A long walk to the
Commodore stand involved
passing just about every
major manufacturer in the
world. There's so much
space you dont get the
claustrophobia of British
shows - you can actually
hear something above the
din of conversation.
Unfortunately, this proved to
be variations on every Jean
Michel Jarre track ever
heard. In amongst the
American and Taiwanese
‘villages’ were the Epson
stand, featuring a giant 60'
x 15’ panoramic screen
showing off, among other
things, its new 48-ріп
high model of their laptop, a
Casio space featuring models lazing around
the very latest in check-out tills and
Microsoft's green laser installation drawing
attention to their latest OS/2 and Mac
software. Next to Mitsubishi's 37" monitor
displays were Hong Kong's ЗР Products’
fastest 386 in the world - the 33MHz
CAS386C33 - clocking in at an incredible
51Mhz on some benchmarks. Fujitsu showed
off its Voice Communication Unit – a PC
compatible system able to recognise 4,000
spoken words and, unbelievably, output a
single voice response for over 80 minutes.
Right next to it was a 3.5" hard disk in a case
some 6" long by 1.5" capable of storing 180
Mb! Fujitsu is really going great guns — it's
about to release the
FM-TOWNS - a 32-bit,
MS-DOS home micro
in Tokyo with built in
CD ROM and expect it
to sell in droves even
for an asking price of
$4,000. Meanwhile,
- NEC presented its
£700, 550 Mb, PC and
hi-fi compatible CD
ROM unit with two of
the twenty applica
tions already released
for it - Clip Art 3D and
Image Folio. Both
contain 4,000 images.
and sell for £250.
More homegrown
varieties were present
in the form of
Amstrad — nothing to
report here really
except the release of a
20 Mb hard drive for
the PC 1512 – and a
stand shared by Psion
and Cambridge Com
puters. This marriage
seemed a little ironic;
after all, Psion is
releasing a Z88-style
laptop in June or so.
We'd like to think
they're jointly pre
paring for the D.LP/
Atari 5 Folio machine onslaught, but they were
probably just saving money. Probably the same
reason there was no sign of Acorn
At last to the Commodore installation, where
the company was beaming over a 74% growth in
its German home market penetration and
announcing it's “Business At Home" drive. This
centres on the perceived need for a good-priced
AT. The solution was the launch of a £1,200 286
upgrade for the PC 30 and 386 SX for the PC 50
Looking towards the top end of the market, it also
underlined plans for its Amiga 2500 Unix machine
and A2000-based transputer workstation. Back on
the Home/Business front it showed off its new
DTP package comprising a 3Mb A2000, 40 Mb
hard disk, Sharp JX 300 colour scanner, NEC LC
890 Postscript compatible laser printer and
Professional Page and Draw software.
Also attracting much interest was a very sexy
Commodore-badged Desk Top Video system —
“Videobox” — comprising genlock, digitiser and
RGB splitter in a casing along with ‘Diamond’
painting, ‘Quick Silver’ animation, ‘Effects’ digital
image merger and ‘Video Titler' titling software.
All IFF and PAL compatible and coming out at
£500 for the A500 upwards.
From then on it was a Press bus back to Atari
and a quick look at the new Steinberg music
package – a Beta test version of the all-singing, all
dancing Soundworks FZ1 — and a really tasty solid
3D animation package called AXIS. More on this
soon
After that, the airport, more beers and endiess
recounting. The verdict? Great in so far as it went
but how much can you cover in 7 hours on this
scale? @
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989 • 29
Unit 2 Willowslea Farm,
Spout Lane North, Stanwell Moor,
Staines, Middlesex TW19 6BW
‘Advanced Rugby Sim
Afterburner
Airball
Alien Syndrome
Alpine Games
Arcade Force Four
Arctic Fox
Armageddon Man
Barbarian Palace
Barbarian
Bards Tale |
Better Dead Than Alien
Beyond The Ice Palace
Bionic Commando
BMX Simulator
Bubble Bobble
Buggy Boy
Bomb Jack
Captain Blood
Captain Fizz
Casino Roulette
ChessMaster 2000
Corruption
Carrier Command
Champion Wrestling
Champion Water Ski
Crash Garrett
Dark Castle
Dungeon Master
Double Dragon
Daley Thompson
Deja Vu
Dizzy Wizard
Dugger
ECO
Eddie Edwards Ski
Elite
Empire
Empire Strikes Back
Espionag
Extensor
Fahrenheit 451
Falcon
Fire & Forget
Firezone
Five Star Compendium
Flight Sim. Il
Flintstones
FOFT
Gunship.
Get Dexterl
Gauntlet II.
Gold Runner Il
Galdregon's Domain
Garfield
Hellfire Attack
Helter Skelter
Heroes of the Lance
Hostages
Hot Shot
Ikari Warriors
Impact
Impossible Mission
Insanity Fight
Int'l Soccer
Ke
| Ball
Jet
Jewels of Darkness
Joan of Arc
Joe Blade II
Juggler
Kennedy Approach
Knight Ore
Kings Quest Pack
KnightMare
Las Vegas
Leather Goddess
Leatherneck
Leisure Suit Larry
Leisure Suit Larry I!
Living Daylights
Lombard RAC Rally
Lords of Conquest
Lurking Horror
Legend of the Sword
Mach III
Manhunter
Mickey Mouse
Mini Golf
Mission Genocide
Mean 18
Mega Pack
Maria's Xmas Box
Moebius:
Marble Madness.
Mind Forever Voyaging
Maniac's Diary
Munsters
NetherWorld
Night Hunter
NightRaider
Nigel Mansell's G.P.
Obliterator
Off Shore Warrior
Operation Wolf
Out Run
OverLander
Ogre
Pothole Pete
PowerDrome
PacMania
Pandor:
Pawn
Peter Beardsley
Phoenix
Pink Panther
Platoon
Power Struggle
Purple Saturn Day
Perfect Match
President is Missi
Quadralien
Question of Sport
Return To Genisis
RoadWar 2000
RoadRunner
Revenge II
Rambo Ill
Shut Down
Sapiers.
Sky Fox
Sky Fighter
Space Quest |
Space Quest I
Star Trek
Scenery Disk No
Scenery Disk No 11
Scenery Disk European
Scenery Disk Japan
Side Winde
Space Harrier
Spitfire 40.
StarWars
StarGlider 1
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Str Crazy
ST Olympiad
STOS
Street Fighter
Street Gang
Strip Poker
Strip Poker II
Summer Olympiad.
Super Hang-On.
Super Sprint
Space Ace
Soccer Supremo
Statt
Sundog
Star Fleet
Sinbad & Throne of Faicons
SpeedBal
Süperman
ST Karate
Skrull
Tanglewood
Tetris
Thrust.
Tracker
Turbo Cup
Typhoon
Thundercats
Time & Magik
Trivial Pursuit (New Begin
Trivial Pursuit
Terramex
Terrorpods
Transputor
ThunderBlade
Techno Cop.
Times of Lore
Ultima I
Ultima IV
UMS.
U.M S. Disc!
U.M.S. Disc II
Victory Road
Virus.
Vampire Empire
Vegas Gambler
War Games Con Set.
Warlocks Quest.
Where Time Stood Still
Whirligig.
Winter Olympiad
Wizards Crown
Wizards Warz
Wanted
Xenon
Xevious
Zany Golf
Zynaps.
20000 Leagues Under the Sea
16.50
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is & Printives
ural Design
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3 d
SEES CONTROVERSY
* Played into his hands: Clifford Stoll set a trap for the hacker
and they fell for it
Spycatcher
Two weeks ago eight young computer hackers were
arrested in West Germany for allegedly spying on behalf
of the Soviets. The story involves international espi-
onage at the highest levels; it puts the concept of a gen-
eration of computer literates into disturbing perspective;
and it's got a hero. All in all, it's cracking stuff...
Colin Campbell explores what could possibly emerge
as computing's most fascinating saga to date
t's been obvious for a long time now that some poor
fools with a handy knowledge of computing would
end up being tempted, entangled and destroyed by
the insidious lure of power, money and danger.
So many science fiction writers and spy novelists have
introduced the computer hacker as a major tool for espi-
onage (William Gibson in Count Zero, for example) that
when it really happens, nobody is terribly surprised. All
this will be of little relevance to the eight young men
aged between 25 and 35 who are now languishing in
German cells accused of spying for a possible enemy.
They have spent years tapping into key networks and
passing info on to the no doubt delighted Soviets. Their
skills are not extraordinary. Their profits are not particu
larly impressive. Their punishment is likely to be severe
The personalities of the eight young computer hackers
herded into vans last week by West German police are
not known. But it's a fair bet that they're not fiery-eyed
ideologues with a passion for world revolution; more like-
ly they are interested in comms rather than Communism.
The hackers are already pleading that they were being
blackmailed by their KGB spymasters from East Berlin
Their toils brought in £100,000 over the years along
with that most squalid of rewards — drugs.
The cosy spy ring would still be riding high if it weren't
for the extraordinary efforts of one computer enthusiast
who set about unravelling опе of computings' most fasci
nating stories
For whom the bell Stolls
Dr Clifford Stoll is an all round clever bloke with a pen-
chant for the stars and a healthy interest in computers
Whilst working as an astronomer in Berkeley, California,
he stumbled across a 75 cent discrepancy in his "shared
time" computer system accounts
He was intrigued and baffled. How on earth had this
oddity managed to creep in? "If it had been $1,000 off, |
wouldn't have thought anything of it," he said. "It's like if
your house collapses you just assume there has been an
earthquake. But if you find a tiny termite hole, you think
Jeez, | had better investigate'."
* Checkpoint Charlie: Secret data on disk was passed to the
Soviets
Cyberpunklike, Stoll set about exploring the tangled
computer networks in search of the seventy five cent
source. After three days of poking in every corner of the
system he found the culprit
The charge had come from someone who had crept
into the computer through the telephone lines. This was
in the summer of 1986 when the concept of computer
hacking was more Hollywood than anything else
Stoll then spent four months assiduously monitoring
the hackers toils. It became apparent that they were
using the Berkeley network as a gateway to the comput
er system called Milnet which links up vital computers in
military establishments, university laboratories and key
centres of defence.
Stoll became even more involved as words such as
SDI, biological warfare, nuclear and NORAD cropped up.
He contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
passed on his discovery. The FBI were not impressed
especially since it all began from a 75 cent overcharge
They are reported to have responded: "Who cares? It's
not important.
By now Stoll was hooked. The investigation was
becoming an obsession as he dug up new ways of track
ing the hackers. He connected an electronic pager to the
computer which alerted him every time the intruders
broke in
His girlfriend, hardly surprisingly, became annoyed with
his obsession. In an attempt to put an end to the thing
she suggested he try and ensnare the hackers with a
trap.
A program, guaranteed to get the hackers' fingers furi
ously tapping, was designed and enticingly called SDI
Net. The hackers probably sniffed bags of cash when the
opportunity was discovered and promptly spent two
hours rummaging through the bogus material
It was plenty of time. Stoll tracked the call to one the
world's most notorious centres of illegal computer activi
ties – Hanover, West Germany.
A man in Pittsburgh sent Stoll a letter some months
later asking for information concerning SDI Net. Once
again, Stoll approached the FBI. This time they were con
vinced. The Pittsburgh man was picked up, his contacts
with East European countries unearthed and a full scale
investigation was initiated
The spy who bugged me
The FBI and the Bundesamt für Vurfassungsschutz (Ger
man secret service) closed in on the hackers over a peri
od of 18 months. The spies were being paid £1,500 for
each disk. Many contained data from the pentagon,
nuclear laboratories and US space secrets; British intelli
gence was also infiltrated
Officials are keen to stress that the hackers missed
the West's most sensitive secrets and that the Soviets
were only receiving low level information. Nevertheless,
it is generally agreed that the efforts of the hackers has
closed the technology gap between the East and West
1 would say that Dr Stoll is largely responsible for
cracking the case," said Charles Hurley, former
spokesman for the Lawrence Berkeley laboratories
Over a period of many months he tracked them.
And Stoll? He's made his way to Harvard to get back to
some star gazing. ‘It was exciting, but in another sense
it was dreadful because | got zero astronomy done for
two years,” he said
As for the hackers, they face a long and drawn-out
bout of painful revelations and accusations. If found
guilty (and an 18 month investigation as well as confes-
sions already gleaned suggests something) they face a
few years banged up. Hackers looking for ready cash
and stimulation take note
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS « 18 MARCH 1989 • 31
“The PC Engine is not an expensive
console, it's a cheap arcade
machine”
The Games Machine
“Forget Nintendo and o they
are not even a spit in the ocean
in terms of power and gameplay.
Even the Amiga would be very hard
pushed when you come up against
THE MOST POWERFUL
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Computer and
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Computer and
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“Games on the PC Engine are, quite
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It's the most impressive piece of
video game hardware Гуе ever
seen
Geoff Minter,
The Nature of the Beast
“The PC Engine is no fantasy”
Computer and
Video Games
HARDWARE
How about a CD Rom
play
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package. So
rumours suggest
Atari UK's handli
not because
code t
accesses the ROM, but
ction mech:
checks to
various cheats:
e practice is
to prevent companies
oring the Ameri
version
So far so good? Well
here's the really sick
ening part. American
ibutors in the
es claim to have
UK version and
can’t understand why
it isn't available here.
Gainstar, il
R-TYPE of game
What a game, but what a ****** to complete. Impossible without
a little underhand help.
When you're asked to insert the second disk during loading, do
the following: press [HELP], type ‘ME’ and press the up arrow key.
After that, insert the second disk and press the space bar to ||
continue. During the game pressing the function keys toggles
F5- vincibility f from walls and aliens.
Quickies
Flair Paint
e Vektor Graphics
on Bom
here soon. Ohh, it's more fun than Dallas!
We shall overcome
lering why Glentop has
been so quiet on the ST scene lately, it's
г GFA System Technik in Germany -
s of the GFA range of software - is to
shop in the UK. Glentop publishes the
versions of GFAs products, so
ly GFAs move to the UK will disrupt
Glentop's trading. In fact, it is very likely that
when GFA arrives, Glentop will no longer
handle any of System Technik’s software
Glentops MD, Peter Holme, reckons this is
perfectly legal according to th ns in
the contract.
The move, claimed GFA Germany's boss
Rolf Hilschner, is due to take place in early
July. Apparently a “well-known” figure in the
industry is to head GFAs UK operations
@A new reenter ы compiler
supported.
(0703 229
the source on another. Cost pet
@From the beginning of April, Photophile
will expand its service to со
supply a photograph of the item y.
digitised and in return you get a
file containing the grabbed picture
can be in either Neochrome, Degas, D
Art Director format. The cost is £1.50 per
colour picture and £1 per black and white. A
postage. De
© Rombo Productions has moved. The new
phone number is 0506 414631
Adrion McHerriot
TREBLE
16 BIT SPECIALIST
COMPUTING
Atari 520 STFM 1 meg Drive
Atari 1040 STFM 1 meg Drive + Prot
Atari 1040 STFM + SM124 Mono Monitor
Atari SM124 Mono Monitor
Amiga A500 including Modulator
Philips CM8833 Med-Res Stereo Monitor ..
Commodore 1084S Med-Res Stereo Monitor
Cumana 1 meg 3.5" Drive for ST inc PSU
Cumana 1 meg 3.5" Drive for Amiga inc on/off Switch
Triangle 1 meg 3.5" Drive for ST inc
Triangle 1 meg 3.5" Drive for Amiga
Citizen 120/D Mono Printer
Star LC10 Colour Printer inc Cables....
Star LC10 Mono Printer inc Cables ..
A501 Memory Expansion for Amiga
A501 Memory Expansion for Amiga
Prosound Designer for Atari ST...
Prosound Designer V.2 Gold Edition for Amiga
Midi Interface for Amiga.........
Romantic Robots ST Multiface (disk
80 Capacity 3.5" id Box
10 x 3.5" DS/DD Disks..
Atari Gift Pack
Atari 520 STFM 1 meg Drive
Mouse + Leads + Manual
Free Joystick
Free 80 Cap Disk Box
Free 10 x 3 1/2" DS/DD Disks
Free Mouse Mat
21 Games
Source Book & Tutorial
ALL FOR ONLY £384.99
Atari ST Software
Our Price R.R.P.
Barbarian II £14.99 £19.99
Galdregon's Domain £14.99 — £19.99
Falcon £17.99 £24.99
F16 Combat Pilot £17.99 £24.99
£17.99 ©2499
£19.99
£24.99
£29.99
£19.99
£24.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£24.99
£29.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£24.99
£14.99
£17.99
£20.99
Dungeon Master
Manhunter
Ballistix £14.99
Int Karate + £17.99
К. Dalglish's Soc.Mgr £14.99
Roy of the Rovers £15.99
Baal £14.99
Purple Saturn Day £17.99
Leisure Suit Larry 1124.99
R-Type £15.99
Operation Wolf £14.99
Inc. Shrinking Sphere£14.99
Teenage Queen — £14.99
Zak McKraken £18.99
RRP £24.99
Special Price £16.50
Atari 520 STFM 1 meg Drive « Super Pack ..
£275.99
£369.99
£449.99
£549.99
£109.99
£379.99
£269.95
.£259.95
£99.95
£94.95
£94.95
£84.95
..£159.95
£269.95
£249.95
£129.95
£149.95
.£49.95
£79.95
£24.95
organiser also available) £49.95
£9.95
£8.99
fessional Pack
internal PSU
inc on/off Switch......
plus Dragon's Lair
Amiga Gift Pack
Amiga A500
Mouse + Leads + Manual
Free Modulator
Free Joystick
Free 80 Cap Disk Box
Free 10 x 3 1/2" DS/DD Disks
Free Mouse Mat
Workbench + Basic Manual
ALL FOR ONLY £399.99
Amiga Software
Our Price R.R.P.
Dragon's Lair (1 Meg) £34.99 — £44.95
T.V.Sports Football £20.99 £29.99
Super Напо Оп £17.99 £24.99
Rocket Ranger £20.99 £29.99
Elite. £17.99 £24.99
F16 Falcon £20.99 £29.99
Roger Rabbit £17.99 £24.99
Speedball £17.99 £24.99
Dungn. Master (1meg)£17.99 — £24.99
Sword of Sodan 20.99 £29.99
Int. Karate + £17.99 $2499
World Class Leaderbró £14.99 — £19.99
Ballistix £14.99 £19.99
K. Dalglish's Soc. Masa z £19.99
Baal £14 £19.99
Purple Saturn Day £17. ae £24.99
Galdregon's Domain£14.99 £19.99
Operation Wolf £14.99 £19.99
Inc. Shrinking Sphere£17.99 — £24.99
Zak McKraken £18.99 ©2499
Amiga
F16 Combat Pilot
RRP £24.95
Special Price £16.50
For all other
16-Bit Hardware
B * Software.
lease contact for
competitive prices. CAXTON
All Prices are
correct at time of
going to press and
are subject to
change
without notice.
NEW
ТРЕЕ Ее COMPUTING
pt.
CROMER HOUSE,
STEVENAGE,
HERTS SG1 2DF
Tel: 0438 361738
Fax: 0438 740794
Personal callers welcome
t.
Please send
Cheques/PO made
payable to:
"Treble H Computing"
All prices include
VAT packaging
+ delivery in the UK.
Add £2.00
for Europe +
£3.00 for overseas
WAY,
COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989» 33
AMIGA 500
GAMES PACK
ONLY £399.00
(including Photon Paint)
AMIGA 500
DRAGON'S LAIR PACK
ONLY £499.95
AMIGA 500
ECONOMY PACK
ONLY £359.00
ATARI 520STFM SUPERPACK
ONLY £345.00
ATARI 520STFM
ONLY £275.00
ATARI 1040STFM
BUSI-PACK
y
z
Send All Orders to:
A EE OR
SOFTWAR
AMIGA 500 + 1084S MONITOR + GAMES PACK (without Modulator)
All Prices Include 15% VAT. Add £5 per item for
Carriage/Insurance. Credit Cards Customers may have,
С, Next Day Courier for just £8
Ос, Access/Visa/Mastercard orders & Enquiries
Phone 0706 43519
Visit our New Showroom at:
Unit 9, 160 Drake St. Rochdale for Demo
24 Bankfield Lane, Norden, Rochdale, Lancs., 01.11 5RJ
OO AO KO K KK AK KCE RT KC AK KU RRR RARER RR RRR K KK KIC
ek Kk III IOI OI tt to:
16-BIT HARDWARE SUPERDEALS :
FOOT RR tote RAARAREREAR AREA AREAS
ЕЕ TV Modula
Mousi
usi
р Quan Games worn £300 PHOTON 4
Hele Ж. ities Disks with over 30 useful *
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AmigaBASIC ‘Extras and Tutorial Disks *
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with FREE TV Modulator, Mouse, Mouse Mat. ж
1 Meg Memory, Dragon's Lair Game. 2 *
Manuals, WorkBench V1.3, Amiga BASIC) *
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Manuals WorkBenc! v1.3 Amiga *
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ONLY £620.00 s
with FREE 21 Games, ST Organiser, Mouse, *
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with FREE V.I.P. Professional Spreadsheet,
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ONLY £445.00 Tuto Sk *
*
PRINTERS *
Seikosha KX-SP120 with FREE Parallel Interface & Lead £144.95 x
Commodore MPS 1230 with FREE Parallel Interface & Lead £154.95 ж
Star LC- 10 with FREE Parallel Interface & Lead £19995 жя
Star LC-10 Colour with FREE Parallel Interface & Lead £230.00 ж
*
OTHER ITEMS *
Superbase Personal (Amiga) £3995 ж
A501 Amiga .5 Meg Memory Expansion £129.95 ж
A501 Amiga 5 Meg Memory Expansion + Dungeon Master Game £149.95 ж
Philips CM8833 Colour Monitor (with Mono Screen Option)
16-Bit Software (Dept F1),
»*
DEPT.10
VECTOR SOFTWARE
170 Arabella Drive
Upper Richmond Road
MAIL ORDER SPECIALISTS London SW15 5LG
ATARI ST
Barbaran (Ме! Hse
Advance Orders Accepted
Call 01-878-6025 and ask
for VECTOR SOFTWARE
Enquiries always welcome
Alll prices include VAT and P&P in the UK.
* denotes a sale item. Prices apply
only whilst stock lasts - please
hone to check availabilty. No
visitors please - we are a specialist
mail order company
Please add £2.00 to overseas orders for P&P.
Add 50p to your order if you require recorded delivery (UK only). Please make
Cheques Postal Orders payable to VECTOR SOFTWARE. Orders normally dispatched
within 24 Hours. Send Stamped, Addressed Envelope for free Price List -
Please specify mahcine.
34 « NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
MACHINE-SPECIFIC COLUMNS ШЕН у
What price IBM?
d started Ше in
g prices
asonable qual
value for m
CPCs, through the PCWs,
and
viding excel
joney. This continued fr
version above 3.0 should have the same
jes.
COMPCOM. Compares two files, byte by
orts any inconsistencies. Usefu
copy of a file
Type
COMP
file’
DISKCOMP.COM e nds the comparison to
name of first file» «name of second
ugh you'd have to be sure
e disk didn't already have the
om the
ive» «name of
РС!
ed |
read the trade
ught software froi trad in its
early CPC 464 days, y he name
of William Poel. Never one for a quiet life
mstrad some years back to start
ar software and has since gone
on to champion the cause of such
products as VP Planner, Multiwriter 2 and
TopDOS, His latest catalogue, which
the publishing
s wel
han
nt of information. It's
ging (0245) 265017 to ask for a
* IBM's model 30: Now cheap enough to challenge
Amstrad?
1640. With the the new 2000
е of machines, though,
the company made a
conscious decision to go for a
higher spec and aim for the
corporate market. The new
machines have 35" drives
VGA screens and a higher
entry price. The bottom of the
range 2086 machine has been
pitched straight at the entry
level IBM PS/2 machine, the
Model 30. Amstrad's adverts
have majored on a direct price
comparison
IBM has now cut its dealer
price on Model 30s, for those
h n lots of 50, so
rt to see Dixons
and major players
offering them for around the
£800 mark. At this level, they
compare we with the
PC2086. You have to consider
ther you value Windows
а VGA screen (Amstrad's
and
bonuses) more than a better
second-hand price, probable
better warranty and a metal
case
Will this price cut hurt IBM?
Well rumour has it that a PS/2
Model 30 costs IBM less to
build than an Amstrad
PC1512, let alone a PC1640 or
PC2086. If you look at the
relative complexity of the
Circuit boards, you can see
why.
DOS extras
As the first in yet another
occasional series, how about
those utilities supplied with
MS-DOS which few people use
to their fullest extent? There
are a lot of goodies available
from DOS worth getting to
know. For the purposes of this
item, I'm working with РС.
DOS version 33, but any
copy.
Simon Williams
Jargon jungle
To continue with a few of the common terms in PC usage
which may confuse or befuddle:
SPEEDS: Whenever you see a speed quoted in a PC
spec, it normally refers to the length of time it takes the
central processor (8088, 8086, 80286, 80386 - see last
week) to execute one instruction. Speeds range from
4.77MHz to 25MHz or even 32MHz. In other words,
processors can typically perform between 5 million and
32 million instructions per second. The speed of
everythíng in the PC, including the central processor, is
controlled by a crystal clock, and each unit of time is
therefore known as a clock cycle or tick.
Other things - such as processor type - being equal, a
machine which runs at 16MHz goes twice as fast as a
machine running at 8MHz. This doesn't necessarily mean
the PCs housing these processors will show the same
difference in speed, though. Other factors have an
effect, particularly the speed of the memory chips. Most
machine-code instructions involve fetching data from or
Putting it into locations in memory. If the memory takes
à long time (in computer terms) to respond to the central
processor's request, the processor may have to wait for
one or more clock cycles each time it it uses memory. If
ít has to wait for one clock cycle, the whole machine is
said to be a ‘one wait state’ system. If it never has to
wait, the system is ‘zero wait state’ - the ideal situation.
HARD DISKS: There are two main factors governing hard
disks; their capacity and their speed. Their capacity
starts at around 20Mb and can go as high as 300Mb for
very large PC systems. A 20Mb hard disk will give you
the same sort of capacity as around 50 360K floppies,
17 1.2Mb floppies or 14 1.44Mb floppies. Check the
Programs you use regularly and the amount of floppy
disk space they take up. You should be able to work out
the size of hard disk you need. In practice, Murphy's 2nd
Law of Computing applies.
The speed of a hard disk sffects a PC much as the
speed of memory does, but to a greater extent as a hard
disk is much slower to start with. Typical speeds are
65ms - slow, 28ms - quite fast and 15ms - very fast.
The other factor affecting speed is the type of interface.
Most PC interfaces are referred to as MFM. This
standard is fine for medium sized disks (say, up to
40Mb). Disks of over 100Mb benefit from an ESDI
interface, which has long been used in mini-computer
systems.
MURPHYS 2ND LAW OF COMPUTING: States that
however much memory or disk space you buy, it's
always less than half what you actually need.
* SPECIAL OFFER * SPECIAL OFFER ж
TTA
Epyx to release Amiga portable?
Latest news (gossip and rumours actually!)
from the States indicates that Epyx, the giant
leisure software manufacturer, may be on the
verge of releasing a hand-held portable based
around the Amiga
Message Port
No details have yet emerged about the new
machine, but informed opinion seems to
indicate that the new machine is aimed
primarily at the leisure market When I
phoned Epyx in the States (but don't tell my
publisher, will youl), 1 was unable to get
anyone to even confirm or deny the machines
existence.
Many industry watchers have been
predicting the arrival of the new machine
ever since Epyx had supposedly managed to
poach Jay Miner, the designer of the Amiga
custom chips, and other such Amiga
personalities from Commodore-Amiga Inc.
when Commodore shut down the Los Gatos
based company.
AmiExpo Latest
Well, the latest AmiExpo in New York has
come and gone, and already news of some
exciting new products has started to filter
through the usual gossip channels
that computer journalists rely on so
much. Several major companies in
the Amiga market used the show as
an excuse to either preview or
launch new products.
Gold Disk was previewing the
latest addition to its range of PRO
series products, a new word
processor and outline processor, in a
similar vein to New Horizons' Flow
idea processor.
NewTek, that company that gave
the World Digi-View, released the
latest update to its highly-acclaimed
HAM paint package, Digi-Paint
Video Titling made Easy
It is generally acknowledged throughout the
video industry that the Amiga is the number
ne buy for any potential videophiles on a
tight budget; why buy a machine such as the
Quantel Paintbox when the Amiga can
produce some very acceptable results for a
fraction of the price?
However, one common complaint that many
first time users have with professional video
software is that it can often be almost
incomprehensible to the average human
Many would even argue that calling a product
professional is only a marketing ploy to gloss
over the fact that the program is actual almost.
impossible to use!
You can therefore appreciate
how overjoyed I was when a
new piece of software landed on
my rather untidy desk. Video
Generic Master, from НВ
Marketing, is the ideal solution
for any of you budding video
enthusiasts that wish to use
to all those home movies. The
program is a powerful video
titling package that contains a
whole host of powerful facilities
such as multi-direction scrolling,
fonts right upto about 70 point and a lot more
besides. But best of all... it's very easy to use;
even a friend of mine who owns an ST
worked out how to use it!
Video Generic Master is £69.95. For further
Marketing, on 0895 444433
Snippets.
© youre eagerly awaiting the arrival of
its highly
Microlllusions' follow-up to
regarded HAM paint package Photon Paint,
then I'm afraid you're going to have to wait
just a little bit longer. The European
distributor, Activision (Oi! where's MusicX?),
has had to postpone the release until at least
the end of March. Is Activision trying to avoid
a direct head-to-head confrontation with
Electronic Arts’ Deluxe Paint version 3, 1 ask
myself?
* Look out for some very hot new products from NewTek
which is called, not surprisingly, over the coming months!
Digi-Paint 3. Also shown at AmiExpo
was its much awaited video | @NewTek, the company that brought you
digitiser/genlock/effects unit, Video Toaster
(see snippets section for more details)
NewTek's greatest rival in the video
digitisers market, A Squared Inc. (producers
of the Live! digitiser), released LIVE! 2000, а
combination genlock and video digitiser for
the Amiga 2000.
ReadySoft (of Dragons Lair fame) released
several new games, but probably the product
of most interest from ReadySoft was its
hardware-based Macintosh emulator. The
company also released a rather obscure
device that allows you to backup your
valuable hard disk data to standard VHS
video tapes. Such backup devices have been
available for machines like the PC for quite
some time, but this is the first to find its way
onto the Amiga
Digi-View, is soon to release its much talked
about Video Toaster Unit. The Toaster is a
broadcast
quality genlock and video effects unit which
real-time HAM video digitiser,
is aimed primarily at the professional video
market. Currently, only an American NTSC
version exists but NewTek is claimed to be
working hard on a PAL version.
The price of the Video Toaster is currently
undecided, as the final deciding factor will
undoubtedly be the price of the DRAM chips
employed by the unit. If DRAM prices do fall,
then expect to be paying just under £1,000 for
the hottest piece of hardware available. But if
prices stay at their current astronomical level,
then the Video Toaster will probably end up
with a rather hefty £1,600 price tag.
Jason Holborn
your Amigas to add fancy titles
details you can contact the distributors, HB
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version of that marvellous utility DISKSALV1.32, ten more programs,
numerous articles, tutorials, news and reviews and you've got the March
issue of the world's best selling magazine on a disk for the Amiga -
JUMPDISK - at only £8.50 inc. | think it's time for early retirement!”
Please mention this ad when you order the March issue of JUMPDISK
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36 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
B
YOU
а
MACHINE-SPECIFIC COLUMNS
AT
Coupé de grace
After an eternity or three it's good to see
Miles Gordon Technology's Spectrum:
compatible is finally readying itself for launch
onto the market, hopefully to cries of
jubilation from the crowd.
The report in the latest issue of ACE on the
unveiling of the first ever SAM suggests the
finished product is every bit as good as
originally claimed. It's cheap, has a wide
range of expansion possibilities (including
MIDI), an excellent BASIC language as
standard and four different modes; each one
impressive in its own way. Power Without
the Price if ever I saw it
Xynktrbzogs are in on the act (the only good
Xynktrbzog is a dead one, 1 always say)
So it looks like your party of adventurers,
which includes Tanis, Caramon, Majere,
Tasslehoff Burrfoot and Sturm Brightblade (1
bet they got some stick at school), will have
their work cut out. The authors must have
used The Stupid-Sounding Random Fantasy
Name Construction Kit for some of those!
Anyway, talking of rubbish, that intro is
really meant to introduce some tips for the
damned game (which plays a lot better than
it sounds)
* First and foremost, don't think you can get
away without making a map. I know it's time-
consuming and you always start at the wrong
edge of the paper, but do it for me, will you?
* It might seem obvious, but arrange your
party according to strength and armour. Good
old Flint Fireforge makes an excellent
frontman.
* Don't bother testing for traps. I found if you
keep running they can be avoided fairly
easily.
* Firing a few arrows at the baddies is
gteatly preferable to taking
them on at close range. Use
Tanis, and try to get shots
in as quickly as possible
you cant move when
shooting
* Killing Trolls (at last, a
name I can pronounce!) is
best done with a torch. Not
very partial to heat, these
chaps
Old dinosaur
* МСТ SAM Coupé: Too good to miss?
And yet, much as | hate to be a wet
blanket, you can't help thinking that with all
this talk of sooper dooper new games
consoles, the SAM Coupé has been shoved
out of the limelight and given a bit of a back
seat (no doubt a jiggly, hydraulic one just to
rub it in) It couldn't really have been
launched at a worse time. The current
climate in computerland seems to demand
more and more innovation with the release of
every new piece of hardware
MGT's baby is not going to be revo-
lutionary or ground-breaking,
admittedly, but it is a well
balanced design which deserves
some success. The firm behind
SAM is good news for us humble
users, too. It knows and loves the
Spectrum and has heaps of
enthusiasm and commitment. The
complete opposite of Amstrad, in
fact! (Libel suits, writs etc to the
usual address.) Us Speccy owners
are pretty fortunate to be getting
a new and impressive computer
late in our machine's life. You're
not going to waste the
opportunity and buy one of those
amazingly expensive Amigas are
you? Glad to hear it. Now I want that in
writing.
Heroic tips
If you enjoy collecting examples of poor
writing, in addition to SPEX and The Sun,
invest in Heroes of the Lance. A sadder piece
of contrived rubbish than the storyline you
will not find.
I suppose the actual plot isn't at all bad, it's
just the names. From what I can make out,
the aim of the game is to help the inhabitants
of Krynn before opposition to Takhisis can be
united by recovering the Disks of Mishakal
from Xak Tsaroth. Oh, and by the way,
they're being guarded by Khisanth and
enslaved Aghar, and even those dastardly
as big a success as the last one. Phone 0473 690729
for details.
Remember Bubble Bobble,
that adorably cute platform
style game where you
zapped the bad guys by
trapping them in a bubbles and popping
them? If only real life was as simple, Well
anyway, a Spectrum sequel called Rainbow
Islands is on its way. Again, it looks adorably,
bordering on the sickly, cute, and as we
speak is being grafted over by Craftgold.
Also on the conversion road to your Speccy
is Renegade Ш, which looks like being
another mega-violent beat-em-up (would you
have it any other way?), only this time the
action is set in prehistoric times.
On the other hand
The (nearly) infamous Speccy!
1 hope you all read Graeme Kidd's excellent
retelling of the Spectrum story in Express 17.
Those who didn't, write “I will not miss an
issue of Express again” one thousand times
and get your order into the back issues
department immediately.
I must confess it did throw up a few things
I wasn't aware of. The fact that the Spectrum
was a contender as the official BBC computer,
for example. It doesn't bear thinking about.
Imagine how humiliating it would be to see
our machine alongside Fred Harris on one of
those awful ‘home micro’ programs they
show on BBC2 at 3:19am just to make sure
no-one will watch. A lucky escape, no?
Robin Alway
Coming soon...
Tyger Tyger * Firebird » £9.95
We saw an early version of this game briefly
at last years PC show, and have been
anticipating its release ever since. Written
by ex-Compunetter Gary Liddon and with
stunning graphics by Paul (Dokk) Docherty,
this ga looks destined to become a hit.
Look out for it, as it should appear in the
shops soon.
BASIC RAM listing
This listing wipes out the BASIC RAM, allowing changes to be
made with BASIC.
5ү549408:В=49408
RESTORE : FORL=0T039:READA:POKEB+L, A:NEXTL | the
DATA 162,0,189,0,160
DATA 157,0, 160,232, 208
DATA 247,238, 4,193,238
DATA 7,193,173,7,193
DATA 201,192, 240, 3, 76
DATA 0,193,169, 160,141
DATA 4,193,141,7,193
DATA 169,54,133, 1,96
REM CHANGE READY TO FINE!
B= 41848: FORL*0TO4 : READA: POKEB+L, A: NEXTL
DATA 70,73,78, 69,33
REM CHANGE POKE TO KILL
101 B=41210:FORL=0TO3:READA:POKEB+L, A:NEXTL
102 DATA 75,73,76,204
110 REM CHANGE PRINT TO ASCII
111 B«41220:FORL*0TO4 : READA:POKEB+L, A:NEXTL
112 DATA 65,83,67,73,201
The POKE command is now “KILL”, PRINT is now ASCII “HELLO”
and READY message is now "FINE".
Pinball Simulator * Code Masters « £2.99
This has been written by Christian Shriggly,
the former brains behind Gremlin Graphics
and some neat CNet demos a long time ago.
As to what the game's about — well, we
guess it speaks for itself
Rock Star
| Tomczyk, Jack Tramiel's one-time assistant,
it charts the four years up to and and just
after Jack Tramiel's departure for Atari and
- specifically, the birth and development of
the Commodore 64
Published at $9.95 in the states, any good
bookstore should be able to order you a
copy if you quote them the ISBN number -
0-942386-78-7.
Sexist or what?
A subject recently brought to light once
again is that of sexism in computer games.
Recent game releases such as Emmanuelle
and Teenage Queen on the 16-bit machines
have provoked letters in various computer
magazines. With the arrival of the Amiga
and Atari ST, the sexist games market has
never been better – due to these machines
ability to produce lifelike images
In the days before
the 16-bit invasion,
several companies
produced various
strip poker-type
games, but due to the
graphic limitations of
weaker 8-bit
machines, these
games could never be
considered realistic,
and were no
(arguably) worse than
something to have a
laugh about with your
mates. Digitised
pictures on the 64 are
very mess, and the
computer images in
Martechs famous
poker game from a
few years ago bore
little resemblance to
Samantha Fox.
It was inevitable
though, that such
games would arrive
on the more powerful
Amiga and ST - given
their far superior
graphics capabilities, and these are the
versions that have provoked the
| controversy.
But is this controversy deliberate? Is it a
marketing device on the part of the
| software houses? The fuss over these
Management «
Code Masters *
£9.99
A game in which
you can tame
people like Wacko
Jacko (or maybe
Tina — Turner.)
Sounds quite ori
ginal, but we'll
have to wait and
see.
Rally Cross
Simulator * Code
Masters * £2.99
This game takes
place from ап
overhead — view.
point, with you
rallying against all
odds. Written (it
has to be) by Gavin Rauben, the guy behind
a lot of Power House and Code Masters
games today, it's got to be worth a look
There's always something in his games that
makes you want to keep playing
Birth of a legend
C64-ers in search of a little bedtime reading |
Should check out a book called The Home
Computer Wars. Written by Michael S.
* Emmanuelle on the Amiga: Are the 16-bitters to blame for sexist
software?
games only serves to make people curious —
perhaps curious enough to go out and buy
the product
There is a clear majority of male computer
users over females out there, agreed. Hardly
an ideal situation - and is it likely to change
if software stays male-dominated? But then
maybe Anco has the answer, with its
special Strip Poker data disk bearing (!) the
charms of Lee and Roy.
Tan + Mic
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Tel: 0753 888866
EN
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989 • 37
м fal ч
f ( 1”
Y ui LI
IR F M
MACHINE-SPECIFIC COLUMNS BENE
27)
MoRE ACRoNyms
Why haven't we seen any OOPs on the
PCWs yet? You know, Object Oriented
Programming, though what the acronyms
stand for is becoming increasingly irrelevant.
as long as they can be pronounced; for
Seriously interesti
їп contrast to our more upmarket (that
example no one now living can remember
whether SPOOLER is an acronym or not (but
if it is I know what it stands for).
The idea behind OOP is that a chunk of
code and the data it works on is treated as
an object that you can send instructions to
use as part of another object or just save for
a rainy day.
| For example you might have an object
| called Menu that knows all about the PCW
screen enviroment, how to save a bit of it,
pull down the menu, collect your choice and
put the screen back. This is quite a lot of
work and well worth using again; an OOP
language makes this kind of thing easy to
re-use, This is only a tease since it seems
unlikely we'll get one
Ican C, I can C!
Hisoft is easily the best programming
houses anywhere, and its range of
languages for the PCW offers unbeatable
value. Since I like to be thought fashionable
I program in C even when it would be easier
to do it in something else (or
ng not at all) and Hisoft C is the
К version I use (I know notheeng
В to $3, | _ so don't write in with your
problems). Instead look at this:
main()
I
int a,b;a=5;
power(a,&b);
printf("%d %@'
!
power(c,d)
int *d;
|
*dec'c'c;
!
According to Kernighan and
Ritchie (who wrote C) this
shouldn't work - the variable с
isnt declared in POWER yet we use it
anyway - but it works perfectly under both
Hisoft C and Zortech C. Any others? And
since it's answers time, when is Hisoft
going to release a version of C for the PCW
with floating point numbers? Write to
Hisoft and ask.
Steve Patient
Packet radio
Several OL users who are also licensed |
radio amateurs are using their OLs for
packet radio, in conjunction with a 2 metre
transceiver, and a box of tricks called a
Terminal Node Controller (TNC) that is
fitted between the computer (via the RS-232
port) and the transceiver.
The TNC contains a modem chip and a
powerful Z80-based microcomputer that
takes data sent to it from the computer, |
converts the data into "packets", with
checksums and destination addresses, and |
sends the packets, via a network of other |
Ancient history
The QL is about six years old this month. It's
difficult to be precise about its exact age, as it had
a rather troubled gestation period, and arrived
happy event was attended by hordes of
The
hacks and hackettes who wetted the head of
Clive's new baby with copious amounts of bubbly at
a celebratory breakfast, and
subsequently.
glowing reviews of the new arrival in spite of the
fact that no-one was allowed to actually play with
it. Watch next week's Express Micro Biography for
the full story of the QL...
packet stations, to the destination. The
same process occurs in reverse when one
receives data from another station
World-wide communication is possible,
using amateur satellites and microwave
links, and it is all absolutely free, once you
have the hardware and software. Most OL
packeteers” use the excellent QuaLsoft
terminal emulation program from TF
services
DIY OL
Quanta member Mike Lilley and his brother
have designed a printed circuit board about
the size of an A4 sheet of paper, that takes
all the plug-in chips from a standard QL,
plus quite a few other components. The
result is a fully QL-compatible computer
with 512K. of RAM, disk interface and
parallel printer interface, with provision for
several EPROMs and special-purpose
interfaces (like апі ^ analogue-digital
converter).
Six of these systems have been built so
far, with relatively few problems in most
cases.
New C compiler
PDOL is advertising a new C
compiler for the OL.
Unlike the Digital Precision
product, the new compiler is a full
implementation of the language, and
is in fact identical to the latest
release of the Lattice C compiler for
the Atari ST range, with a new QL
specific library. In fact, the OL
emulates the ST when it runs the
compiler.
This does not mean that you can
run ST software on the OL, by the
way. This compiler is ideal for use
with the SuperBASIC-C translator
mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
John Torofex
Uncle
wrote
I'm no April Fool I'm going to
the greatest show on earth.
— THE ALTERNATIVE MICRO |
SHOW
SATURDAY APRIL 1ST (THIS AIN'T NO JOKE)
10AM
- 5PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 8th
a
Stokes Hall, Church Road, Leyland, Lancashire
10.00am until 6.00pm
Over 35 stands specially for the home computer user.
HARDWARE + SOFTWARE + PERIPHERALS
PRINTERS + DISKS & DISK DRIVES + GAMES
Plus
The first public showing in the North of
CAMBRIDGE COMPUTERS"
Z88 PORTABLE COMPUTER
Also on show:
Cambridge Computers' new Satellite TV system
Meals and refreshments available all day.
Bar open throughout the exhibtion
ADMISSION £1.50 (Payable on the door)
For further information contact the organiser,
DAVID BATTY on Leyland (0772) 454328
FAX: 0772 454680
38 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
HORTICULTURAL HALLS
GREYCOAT STREET, LONDON SW1
NEAR VICTORIA TUBE/RAIL/COACH STATIONS
ENTRANCE: £2.00-ADULT £1.00-CHILD
EVERYTHING FOR THE SPECTRUM - BBC - QL
ZX88 - EINSTEIN - MSX - ENTERPRISE
ADAM - DRAGON - TEXAS TI99/4A - MEMOTECH
LYNX - ORIC - ATARI 8 BIT - JUPITER ACE
COMMODORE 8 BIT - ELECTRON
AND A HUGE BRING & BUY SALE
ALL THE FUN OF THE MICROFAIR
THE ALTERNATIVE MICRO SHOW IS ORGANISED BY
EMSOFT LTD, POPLAR LANE, IPSWICH, SUFFOLK IP2 OBA
TEL: 0473 690729
EEE, MACHINE-SPECIFIC COLUMNS
The virus is spreading...
That is, according to a correspondent who
gives his address only as ‘The Micro Kid
Hackers UK Ltd, England’
This nerd claims to have placed a v
his school's Econet network. Proud of this
dubious achievement, he then goes on to
offer me a tip for the column.
Well, firstly mate, you can't place a true
virus on Econet. Secondly, I am not going to
publish your tip. And thirdly, 1 have passed
your details back to your school
Many a good tune
us on
digital music.
Why pick a Master? Well, in the
reliability and robustness".
He finishes his letter with "That's all for
now until my next tip", so I might add
"That's all until my next tip-off!”
| Dragon emulator?
Things seem to have woken up recently from
their post-Christmas torpor, with a veritable
deluge (well, trickle anyway) of new material
onto my desk
ESM keeps ‘em coming with Puff, which is
one of its educational adventures for kids. І
nit that I was enchanted by the story
of a dragon who can't fly any more.
I was less enchanted by the software,
which is plain and simple both
presentation and format. However, it w
lo
the job required, which is to help children
learn English and arithmetic
Sam's back
Superior is also keeping i h Play it
Again Sam 7. Now it should have been
available for a while by the time you
this, so I am not going to bore you witl
review. But what I will do is keep you posted
on the Electron compatibility of
Firetrack. If it plays well, then it's a
must for Elk fans. One can only guess
why these things were never
converted before
Terminal mess
At the Which Computer? Show I was
somewhat surprised ~ and pleased
to spot two Master computers on the
Acorn stand.
Both were doing duty as terminals
on a hybrid Econet/Unix system, but
to be quite honest they would have
been better standing alone judging by
the mess the system was in, with
worried-looking men trying to trace
the signal with a multimeter! Still, it
does demonstrate the flexibility of this eight.
year-old computer.
Andrew Brown
manufacturing these computers, they are
soon going to be in short supply, as even at
this relatively high price they are selling well.
For details of the Pioneer PX 7 computer,
contact Videoquip, 5 Fosse Road South,
Leicester LE3 OLP, or phone 0533 558818. For
details of the Philips range of computers,
contact Nightdare Ltd, 11B Walnut Road,
Chelston, Torquay, Devon TQ2 6HP, Tel 0803
606146, or contact Knights Computers, 108
Rosemount Place, Aberdeen AB2 4YW, Tel
0224 630526.
MSX digitising
A couple of weeks ago Express did an article
on computers and video digitisers
and given that little information was
available for the MSX user, 1 thought I
ld take this opportunity to cover
le subject.
In Japan, MSX computers can be
expanded and upgraded to do almost
anything, so it comes as no surprise to
find that you can purchase a cartridge
that allows digitising and titling on
even an MSX 1 computer
Unfortunately, this device only works
on the Japanese TV system - this is
why we have not seen it in the UK
Luckily, you can still purchase the
Pioneer PX 7 MSX computer at the
ridiculously low price of £199.00
including titling software. This
computer was originally £500.00, so it
is a real bargain. The machine has all tne | More games
usual MSX features, but also has two BNC | The MSX software scene is still thriving, with
connectors; one for inputing a signal from a | many games in the pipeline. Some to look out.
camcorder or VCR, the other giving a| for are: Superman from Tynesott; Scape
mixed" output for recording onto a second | Ghost from Level 9; System 8 and Turf Form,
recorder. You can place text and graphics | both from CDS Software; Thunderbirds from
over your video, and can also use the inbuilt | Grandslam. Crazy Cars for ће MSX 1 and 2 is
sound chip to add music or sound effects. | now out on cartridge, and I have a copy in
The only MSX computer available in the UK | my possession courtesy of Titus software. It
that can do full digitisation and graphic| sells at £24.95, so is not cheap. Watch this
overlays is the Philips MSX 2 VG 8280UK, at | space for my impressions of the game.
just over £800. Now that Philips is no longer Keith Neal
Ghoulish tips
Richard Cross, of Bearwood Nr Bournemouth, has
kindly sent in a few tips and pokes for the MSX
gamesters amongst you. They are:
* For Ghostbusters, type in the name JON and say
your account number is 1234 - you will be given
More of Richard's tips next week, and in reply to
Richard's request for a free sub for all his hacking
work - you've no chance mate. Even | have to buy
my own copy of the mag each week.
ITT CP3228
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ma |
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О 40 station tuner presets
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О Full TWO YEAR guarantee
О Superb value for money
О Use EXPRESS voucher to save £4.00!
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т 0386-765500
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Open to callers 6 days, 9.30-5.30 telex 333294
‘Also at: 1762 Pershore Rd., Cotteridge, Birmingham B30 3BH Tel: 021 458 4564
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989 • 39
MACHINE-SPECIFIC COLUMNS EES
CPC's never had it so good
Now look here, I'm getting pretty sick and
tired of all these references in the computer
press to the ‘poor old CPC’ and its imminent
extinction, It's been going on, like a
particularly uncomfortable background noise,
for a long time now. Like many a self-fulfilling
prophecy, however, the cumulative effect is to
undermine confidence and give people the
impression that there must be fire to
accompany the smoke.
What's prompted this little outburst (ooh 1
love it when you're angry) was the news story
in this very organ last week (p.6) that nailed
the ‘bye-bye’ nonsense once and for all. At
least NCE hasn't fallen for the knee-jerk anti
CPC reaction. So next time you hear someone
sneering at your machine and predicting it'll
| go out of production ‘very soon' - whether it's |
| a journo, shopkeeper or 16-bit machine owner |
= hit ‘em with a clip from last week's NCE and |
a few of the following facts. They'll soon feel
as if they've gone four and three- quarter |
| rounds with Iron Mike. |
fact one: the most recent Gallup figures |
indicate that more CPC games are bought |
than Commodore 64s. |
@fact two: the same figures show that |
considerably more than twice as many CPC |
games have been bought this year than Atari |
STs and Amigas put together.
@fact three: despite thoughtless assertions |
that ‘hardly any’ games get converted for the |
CPC any more, all but four of last week's All |
Formats Top 40 are available in an Amstrad
version.
@fact four: the leading CPC-specific
magazine, Amstrad Action, has just returned
readership figures for the second half of 1988
up from 35,000 by very nearly 10 per cent.
Ф fact five: more CPCs were bought during
| the six months up to Christmas 1988 than in
the same period of 1987.
fact six: the 464 pcb has been redesigned,
and some 6128 components have been
integrated onto a custom chip.
None of these facts suggest to
!
SHARE OF SALES BD Бү! М me that the CPC is fading fast, or
Titan poke
Neville Short has sent in an infinite lives poke for the Titus hit.
18 TITUS POKE - DISK
20 МСЕ MARCH 1989
30 ВҮ М. SHORT
49 НЕШО DAVE
5@ MODE @:BORDER Q:FOR I-2 TO 15:READ A:INK I,A:NEXT
62 OPENOUT"A":MEMORY &7FF :CLOSEOUT
76 — 'LORD"!TITANl",&COQO
82 LOAD"!TITAN2", 4800
92 MODE 1:LOCATE 3,12:PRINT" INFINITE LIVES (Y/N)?"
91 — AS-"":WHILE A$-"":AS-UPPERS (INKEYS)WEND
92 IF AS-"Y" THEN 100 ELSE 110
POKE &1A19,0:POKE&1AlA,&CA":'INFINITE LIVES
MODE @: FOR I=@ TO 15:INK I,@:NEXT
LOAD" ! TITAN3" , COGO
RESTORE 159:FOR I-2 TO 15:READ A:INK I,A:NEXT
RESTORE 160:FOR I- TO 14:READ AS:
POKE&4ØØØ+I, VAL ("&"*A$) : NEXT: CALL&4000
DATA 0,26,13,20,14,2,1,24,12,15,6,3,19,9,16,25
DATA F3, 23,20, CØ, 11, 00, 80,01, 02, 48, ED, BØ, C3, 02, 10
comes news of something even
more exciting in the usually
staid and uninteresting
waggling department. It's a
steering wheel device which
plugs directly into your CPC
competition featured in its May issue (out on
c Last
* Is the CPC on the way out? Not according to Gallup!
mis bei E that it's about to go out of| joystick port. As yet it's only
week week — 295 production. Mr Sugar isn’t | available in the States, but
Machine 404 Soy 192 interested in what fashion says, or | plans are fairly advanced for its
SpecTRUM 25в 208 197 what computer journalists tell him | release this side of the water
AM ODORE 64 50 En 54 he ought to be doing (that includes | I'm not allowed to show you a
ATARI 48 4з 39 me, of course!) But if something | picture yet, or give details
ATARI ST 17 42 НЕ sells he'll sell it. | about who's selling it, but I can
pang сә 09 10 | tell you a) it'll cost about £35,
ELECTRON e t 06 Wheel be out soon | b) I've tried it, and it certainly brings a whole |
COMMOD: AVERAGE SALES PER FAT it was only a couple of weeks ago I | new dimension to driving sims and similar
games - WEC Le Mans is even better when
you're really steering! and c) Amstrad Action
has five of the things to give away in a
4 was teling you about
* Microleisure’s rather terrific Star |
Cursor arcade-style joystick. Now |
April 13th). They're to boost Entertainment
International's release of Crazy Cars Il,
coming soon, as they say, to a small screen
near you.
Steve Carey
Unbeatable value
CPC464
CPC664
CPC6128
Unrivalled features
Money Manager Plus
for PCW 8256, 8512,
9512, PC1512, 1640,
SAVE £5 on RAP of £29.95 when you order direct from Connect Systems
Inc. VAT, P&P.
Incl. VAT, P&P.
Financial management software for personal and/or small business use
Money Manageris an easy-to-use system for recording all financial transactions, and for analysing them in a number of very powerful ways in order to facilitate sound
financial management. It is ideal for controlling the finances of a small business, or for users wishing to control their personal finances in a business-like way. Use it to
check bank statements, keep track of expenditure, monitor cash flow, make budgeting forecasts, prepare business financial statements, pacify your bank manager,
convince the tax and VAT inspectors, avoid nasty surprises, etc. etc.!
12monthsof entries are keptinafile stored on your disc. At any time, you may load afile into the computer memory, addto or edit the entries, analyse them, print statements,
and then save the updated file forlateruse. Entries may be historic (for record keeping) or forecast (for budgeting). You may have any number of separate files, and make
copies of files for archive purposes. You may advance the period covered by a file month by month.
Upto 100 separate transactions may be entered per month. Each
consists of
entry
е The day of the month, .g. 23rd of June.
e. Vd deer one of up to 9 defined by DEM YOU.
Hymen, ‘one of up to 50 defined to suit your
up head
, P2=Assembly,
'acking,
e. A description so that you can see what each transaction was for,
e.g. "New gearbox" or "Box of 10 discs."
е лары вока һал! ПК ИА БЕШИ НЫКЫ
further classification, e.g. b=business, rate, elc.
е тааси соро оласе, nudis di сел
€ A marker to indicate whether а
taxable for VAT, atahan anvoy the алш VAT paid
al erines, oral motonng expenses or business using a reat card.
or 55 using a credit card,
etc.) and produce reports on the screen or printer as follows.
e or tortne whale year showing each transaction for any month
or
T statement showi output
amounts ng vA the actual VAT ar ie ot total amount, plus
totals and net VA
MED cesa tot Bach попі the year.
‘ables showing the totals in each class for each account.
е стоне злото iiono, ‘monthly maximum, minimum, average balances,
€ Bar ot category month
© Pie ОТ Б calogotes (CPC version
Plus: standing orders-entries optionally sorted Into date orderem search
facility. Comprehensive manual and full set of practice data Included.
Full telephone support.
Send cheque or credit card number or pnone for immediate despatch
EN
3 Flanchford Road, London W12 9ND. 01-743 9792 8am-10pm 7 days a week
40 + NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
TENSTAR PACK
WORTH OVER £229!
C= Commodore
[Y
ES]
FREE! - WIZBALL - by Ocean
INCLUDES
FREE UK
DELIVERY
The Amiga 500 is one of a new breed of technologically
advanced computers, which are now emerging as the new
standard for home computing, based around the new Motorola
68000 chip. The А500 has 512K RAM and a 1Mbyte double
sided disk drive built-in. It can be connected directly to a wide
range of monitors, or to a domestic TV set through a TV
modulator. Designed with the user in mind, the A500 features a
user friendly WIMP environment and comes supplied with a free
mouse. And, when you buy your Amiga from Silica Shop, the
UK's No1 Amiga specialists, you will experience an after sales
service that is second to none, including a technical support
helpline and free newsletters and price lists. Return the coupon
below for our current information pack, which will give de
the Silica service and the very latest Silica Amiga offers
ils of
E&OE
‘can offer you a computer
ге FEWER
je of products for your comp
need it. There is ONLY ONE c
purchas
established in the home computer field for
nts with an accuracy
st some of the
things we can offer you.
THE FULL STOCK RANGE: The largest range of Amiga
related peripherals, accessories, books and software in the UK.
AFTER SALES SUPPORT: ‘he statt at Silica Shop are
dedicated to help you to get the best from your Amiga
FREE NEWSLETTERS: Mailed direct to your home as
soon as we print them, featuring offers and latest releases
FREE OVERNIGHT DELIVERY: On ali hardware orders
shipped to Silica Shop customers within the UK mainland
PRICE MATCH PROMISE: We will normally match our
competitors offers on a ‘same product same price’ basis
FREE TECHNICAL HELPLINE: Full ime team of Amiga
technical experts to help you with your technical queries.
But don't just take our word for it. Complete and return the
coupon below for our latest Amiga literature and begin to
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PHOTON PAINT PACK
A500 Computer £399.99
TV Modulator £24.99
Photon Paint £69.95
TenStar Pack £229.50
TOTAL RRP: £724.43
LESS DISCOUNT: £325.43
PACK PRICE ::: £399
INC
VAT
When you buy the Amiga 500 from Silica Shop, you will not only
get a high power, value for money computer, we will also give
you some spectacular free gifts. First of all, we are now including
а TV modulator with every A500 stand alone keyboard, so you
can plug your Amiga straight into your TV at home (the
modulator is not included with the A500* A1084S pack as it is not
required for use with monitors). Secondly, we have added a free
copy of Photon Paint, an advanced graphics package with an
RAP of £69.95. Last (and by no means least!), so th
up and running straight away, we are giving away the
TENSTAR GAMES PACK with every А500 purchased at S
Shop. This pack features ten top Amiga tities which ha
combined RAP of nearly £230! Return the coupon tor details
[1084S MONITOR PACK
A500 Computer 99
1084S Colour Monitor £299.99
Photon Paint £69.95
TenStar Pack £229.50
TOTAL RRP: £999.43
LESS DISCOUNT: £350.43
| PACK PRICE £649
INC =
VAT в
L
LOCIS PO "Amegas 3s
коп sca Sop, we wt Art Of Chess 52495
deal possible. That is why we Barbarian, Ult Warrior £19.95
are giving away the TENSTAR Buggy Boy
GAMES PACK worth nearly Ikari Warriors
£230, absolutely FREE with Insanity Fight
eren А50) purchased гот з Mercenary Comp
nSlar Games Pack inc- Terrorpods
ludes ten tiles for the А500,
each individually packaged in Thundercats
its own casing with instructions. Wizball
branch and begin experiencing
SIDCUF (& Mail Order)
ОРЕМ: MON-SAT 9am - 5.30pm,
If you already own an Amiga computer and would like to be registered on our mailing list as an
‘Amiga user, let us know. We will be pleased to send you copies of our price Ii
FREE OF CHARGE as they become available. Complete the coupon and return it to our Sidcup
а Specialist Amiga service that is second to none
01-309 1111
1-4 The Mews, Hatherley Road, Sidcup, Kent, DAT4 4DX
LATE NIGHT: FRIDAY 9am
nd newsletters
Mr/Mrs/Ms: Initials:
Address:
Zpm
LONDON
OPEN: MON-SAT 9.30am - 6.00pm LATE NIGHT:
01-
52 Tottenham Court Road, London. WIP OBA
580 4000
NONE
LONDON
OPEN: MON-SAT 9am - 6.00pm
01-629 1234 ext 3914
‘Selfridges (1st floor), Oxford Street, London. ИТА ТАВ
LATE NIGHT: THURSDAY 9am - 8pm
Do you already own a computer
If so. which one do you own?
To: Sica Shop Lid, Dep NCE, 1-4 The Mews, Hatherley Road, Sidcup, Kent DA14 4DX
PLEASE SEND ME FREE LITERATURE ON THE AMIGA
Surname:
Postcode
EXPR
ESS
EXPRESS
AMIGA MEMORY EXPANSIONS
Fully populated, easy to fit (just plug in)
memory expansion boards for the
Amiga A500
Both boards are memory compatible
with Commodore's expansion
МХ1 - 512K switchable memory
expansion board
MX2 - 512K switchable memory
expansion board with battery
backed time and date.
Dragons Lair, 6 disks, 1 meg only.......£34,95
Dungeon Master, 1 meg only.........£19.95
All prices are fully inclusive.
Cheques / Postal orders to:
C & M Micros
25 Middlefield Road
Bessacarr
Doncaster
ОМ 7EB
£84.95
£99.95
MID SUTHERLAND
DATA
* PC SOFTWARE"
* PARROT DISKETTES *
PHONE NOW FOR DETAILS ! !
0549 2340
PCW 9512 USERS
NOW YOU CAN AFFORD TO USE YOUR PRINTER ! !
Send a used PCW 9512 Carbon Fi assete + €
Aladdink, (Dept C.E.) Eyemouth,
Berwickshire, TD14 5AP
We wil supply a BRAND NEW
Carbon-Fim Ribbon AS GOOD AS NEW
(INTRODUCTORY OFFER expires 31st March 1989
(Limited to one Cassette per Household)
Also... Fabric Ribbons re-inked for most printers. Send
S AE. for details stating printer make and model or
Telephone: 08907 50965 to 8pm
MIDI SOFTWARE
FOR ATARI AND AMIGA'S ?
We deal only in Computer Music so we can offer you the biggest choice plus the
Specialist Knowledge to help you get the most from your Midi Setup.
Write or phone for our Price Lists containing over 100 Programmes,
Accessories and Demo B
TELLIGENT MUSIC
iscs.
All Public Domain Only £1
What do you want from a professional Public Domain Bureau? We
believe have the answer. Send for an Atari ST catologue now. You've
nothng to loose!
* Same day dispatch - Next day delivery!
* Free Catalogue mail-out / Special Offers.
* Credit card ordering / Instant processing.
* No subscription fees or hidden extras.
* Carefully selected top quality software.
As one of the longest established in Atari ST Public Domain software,
with probably the largest library, you can't get the same service any-
where else! PHONE or send a large SAE for your FREE catalogue.
STAR U.K. LTD Dept №СЕ.50 Bridge Street, Aberdeen,
Scotland. AB1 2JN. Tel: (0224) 593024
DRAGON COMPUTER SHOW
Ossett Town Hall, Ossett, West Yorks.
SATURDAY 25th MARCH
10 am to 3 pm. Admission £1.00, OAPS + Children 50p.
Leading Dragon Software Suppliers in attendance.
Details and information on:
0656-880965
The Midi Pack
Yamaha PSS - 480, Track 24, software, midi leads, plus instructions - the ideal starter
package for only - £249.00 including P&P
‘Amiga owners please add £30 for interface
Amiga Owners
At last ...A Pro Featured Sequencer at a budget price.
Track 24 is a New Release from Comus featuring Real and
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All this and more for only £75.00 or £100.00 with interface.
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MIDITECH, THE COLOSSEUM PORTLAND GATE, LEEDS, LS2 3AW TEL 0532 446520
ACCES AWELCOME MAIL TRAINING PACKAGES AVAILABLE
EAST MIDLANDS PUBLIC DOMAIN LIBRARY
Amiga PD disks over 400 in stock!
iption including 2 FREE Catalogue Di:
* SPECIAL OFFERS MONTHLY*
Cheques or Postal Orders payable to:
E.M.P.D.L.
rly updated)
54 Watnall Road, Hucknell, Notts, NG15 7LE.
Tel: 0602 630071
Horse Racing Software that consistently picks winners
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A PROGRAM THAT:
| gives every horse a TRUE RATING and forecasts the CORRECT ODDS
* provides sound BETTING ADVICE * needs NO RACING KNOWLEDGE
* requires the minimum of updating
* ALL at a price you CAN afford
Then look no further than the.
BRIMARDON FORMULA PLUS
+ uses information from a age paper
Price £3:
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Last season 20% after tax level stake profit from blindly backing TOP RATED HORSES IN
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Also available the BRIMARDON FORMULA - uses any daily paper -Price £25
DOZENS OF TESTIMONIALS from delighted customers.
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Send a cheque or postal order and your computer make to:
Ct Brimardon A
Computer Racing Service
75 Cockerton Green, Darlington, DL3 9EG
0325 288483
STOP LOSING - make 1989 the year you beat the bookies
ATARI ST PUBLIC DOMAIN
Wordprocessors, Games, Utilities, Music.
Languages. Art, Educational
and even DTP progs from £1.75!
You'll be amazed at our Premier Service
For a FREE catalogue send a 19p stamp to:
А COMPUTING
32 Meadow Drive. Halifax, W.Yorks HX3 5JZ
PC SHAREWARE
CHOOSE FROM HUNDREDS £1.75 (514) £2.75 (31/2)
Free catalogue - Write or Phone now!
Euro PC at Bargain Prices
Softcell Services, 9 Wells Street,
Cardiff, CF1 8DW
0222 222895
GOODMAN P.D.L.
Established as one of Britain's leading suppliers of
Public Domain Software for the Atari ST. The
Catalogue gives details of the 100's of programmes |
that are now available including
games/utilties/Demo's etc.
£2 fully inclusive.
or from 75p if you supply your own discs.
Send а 19р stamp for further details to:
GOODMAN
Close, Meir Hay Estate
itoke-on-Trent ST3 1SW
0782 335650
16 Conr
Longton,
AMIGA & ST SOFTWARE 1/2 PRICE!
Amiga A500's from £350
Atari ST FMS (1Meg drive) from £260
Prices include VAT
SAE for lists or ring 0602-274369
Mike Jervis: 19, Portree Drive, Nottingham NG5 5DT
BLITSOFT
Amiga Public Domain Club
£5 per year subscription gives you
3 introductory disks from our rapidly growing catalogue
FREE disk for every 3 purchased
Join now or send S.A.E. for catalogue
Members will receive catalogue and disk vouchers
All Disks £2.50 incl. P&P
‘Send Cheques'P.0.'s to
BLITSOFT, 6 Dorney Place,
Bradwell Common, Milton Keynes,
Buckinghamshire MK13 8EL
S.P.A. COMPUTERS
AMSTRAD-COMMODORE-CAMBRIDGE
COMMODORE PC 1
C/W MONITOR + ABLE 1
SOFTWARE £295 + VAT
Phone now for best
prices on all models.
Unit 15, Abbey Mill Business Centre,
Seedhill Road, Paisley PA1 1JN
Tel: 041 - 840 - 1477
FREE !!! (1 per Household)
10 Wrap Around 3 1/2" Disk Labels
S.A. to: N.B.S. (Label Offer)
21, Priory Rd, Newport, Isle of Wight
FED UP WITH GAMES
Learn BASIC Programming
Get this eu Introduction for £3.
Use on CPC, Beeb, etc. with notes for
Commodore & Spectrum.
Cheque, P.O. or Wee Parcel of 3 coins to:
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a E
lem to
some degree of ‘intelli
gence’ into your
boxing character.
To achieve smooth
eS a
language is мегу
similar to that of C and
machine code, so it
shouldnt be a prob-
incorporate
movement of your
figures, use between
four and eight frames
Flipped!
1 have been informed that notching
floppies to get double-sided disks
from single-sided ones, can cause
damage to your drive.
Is there any truth in this or can I
make all my disks flippies?
T. S. Yeo, Dunbartonshire, Scotland.
* As long as you make a clean cut into
the cardboard sleeve of the disk you
intend to convert to a flippy, or use a
commercially available disk notcher (try
mailorder advertisers, should be around |
£5), you shouldn't have any problems. Be
aware, however, that if you make this |
modification to a floppy designated as |
being single-sided, then the integrity of |
of animation.
The wizards (!) at Mandarin software tell
me that it is very easy to master STOS,
and to encourage your efforts, they are
currently offering the sum of £5000 to
the gameswriter of the year: Get
programming!
A Little
Bored, Fontleroy?
| read with interest the tip printed in issue
16 regarding Amiga fonts. However, the
tip as printed is almost unusable. The
standard AmigaDos file which goes with
every “The Very First” font is such that the
Amiga thinks there are many more point
sizes than actually exist in the
the data on the flip side font directory. This
cannot be means that if the
guaran- fonts are
teed. copied
Win a sub!
We want to hear your problems, but we also want helpful
hints and tips. Arid reports of those bugs you've found, from
the comical to the downright frustrating. You could scoop the
weekly best-tip prize of a free 26-issue subscription!
And remember, there's no waiting around for monthly
publication dates. The best
tips, and solutions to your
problems will be in print before you can say Alan Sugar.
(Please don't send SAEs for replies, we can only answer enquiries
in print).
So whether it's help offered or needed, write to:
Tech Tips, New Computer Express,
4 Queen Street,
Bath, Avon ВА1 1EJ.
STOS-er
In the next few weeks | will be buy-ing
S.T.0.S., and would appreciate a few
answers to these questions:
1. Is it possible to join three or four
sprites together to make one large
sprite character such as a boxer, and
would it be fairly easy to animate him
and control him by joystick?
2. Would it be possible to create a
boxing simulation incorporating
artificial intelligence, so that the
computer boxer would act on any
mistakes the other boxer makes?
3. How may frames of animation are
needed to make fluent movement?
4. Could a person with a peanut sized
knowledge of BASIC be able to get
along with the S.T.0.S. programming
language without too many problems?
Tarquin Burnett, Harlow, Essex.
• STOS allows a sprite size of 64x64
pixels to be defined and manipulated with
the sprite editor. For larger characters, it
is possible to join several sprites
together, tò make one large sprite. To
animate a single character made up of
several sprites, you will need to use a
method known as pageflipping (fully
explained in the STOS manual). The whole
character can then be moved quite easily
using a joystick
The logic of the STOS programming
directly
onto a
disk such as
DPaint, the font
menu becomes so large
that the program will crash. The solution
lies in using the font editor and the
AmigaDos ‘assign’ command. Assign the
font directory to “The Very First” disk then
run FED. Load a font (remember, all font
sizes are the same), return to the
workbench screen and your CLI window,
and ASSIGN the font directory to one
belonging to your destination disk. Now
save the font. Repeat this process for
each font. This is the only method which
produces a usable set of typefaces
A much easier way of extending your
Amiga's font selection is with the aid of
Fish Disk No. 135. This contains a huge
amount of fonts to transfer to your other
programs. At last, the garish Workbench
typefaces can be replaced by decent
Times Roman and Helvetica fonts, albeit
under different names. Some of them are
over 160 pixels high, and there are
options to reduce the characters to just
upper-case, numerals, etc. The disk is
obtainable from George Thompson
Services. Tel: 077082 234.
Niall Caldwell, Glasgow.
Monitoring progress
їп response to the enquiry from Clive
Bentham (issue 15), | have detailed below
the method | used very successfully to
Everyone knows that the Commodore
64 is the best eightbit computer in the
world (Excuse me, I'm due back on the
planet Earth - Tech Ed), but when it
comes to games, they can be a teensy
bit temperamental. To cure this rather
annoying problem, here is a cheap
circuit to help with adjustment of the
azimuth angle (The azimuth angle is the
position of the read head of the
machine, relative to the tape — Tech Ed).
You need a small speaker - one from a
personal stereo mini-speaker
is ideal. Wire it to your 64 via
a six pin DIN plug (Tandy sell
one for about £1). Take the
two wires from the speaker
and solder one to pin one
and the other to pin five of
the DIN plug (it doesnt
matter which wire you use
for each).
with in the commodore tape deck and
press play. As soon as you can hear the
game, place a small Phillips screw-driver
in the hole in the tape deck, and adjust
the screw. As you turn the screw, the
sound quality from the speaker will
change. Keep turning the screw, until
the sound is the best quality you can
get. The game should now load without
any problems.
Leigh Haynes, Grimsby, Sth.
Humberside.
Now place a game that
* The Commodore 64: Best 8-bit micro in the world or a
you normally have trouble pain in the azimuth?
attach an Atari ST to an Amstrad monitor.
| must say at this point, that this
information has been culled from several
sources, all I've done here is to pull it all
together.
All you need is a standard Atari monitor
lead, and Amstrad six pin DIN plug, two
general purpose diodes (0A91 from
Maplin), and some 280 or 300 ohm
resistors.
Remove the Atari monitor plug and bare
the wires. Solder one of the diodes in line
‘on both the horizontal and vertical sync
wires (pins 9 and 12), making sure that
the marked end of the diode points
towards the monitor. These two wires
should now be joined together.
the green, red and blue wires, pins 6, 7,
and 10 respectively (colour references
relate to signal colour, i.e. RGB, not the
colour of the wire).
Now connect the necessary wires to the
Amstrad six pin DIN socket, using the
following configuration: Atari pin 7 to
Amstrad pin 1. Atari pin 6 to Amstrad pin
2. Atari pin 10 to Amstrad pin 3. Atari
When you die in Bionic
Commandos on the ST,
wait until part of the
parachutist disappears
under the bottom of the
screen right at the
beginning of the game,
then watch the screen
scroll and display
garbage!
Grant Robson, Bridge-of.
well, Renfrewshire.
* Callistus lunatus
This ground beetle is related to
the genus Chlaenius, but is
easily distinguished by its
conspicuous markings. The
beetles are thermophilic, and
are to be found chiefly on dry
and warm chalky hillsides, to
which they parachute in their
thousands from altitudes of up
to 20,000 feet.
Solder one of the resistors to each of |
pins 9 and 12 (now joined) to Amstrad pin
4. Finally, Atari pin 13 to Amstrad pin 5
Pin six on the Amstrad is not connected
Angus MacQueen, Duston, Northampton.
RAM PACKed up!
A few weeks ago you had a query from an
MSX user who was having trouble using a
RAM pack. | can explain why the RAM
pack appears not to be working.
The MSX uses a Z80 central processor,
which as you know is ап &»bit processor
with a 16-bit address bus. The maximum
amount of memory the Z80 can access is
64k. To get around this problem, the MSX
uses a clever system of ‘bank-switching’,
enabling it to expand up to 4 megabytes.
Unfortunately, all this memory can't be
used from BASIC, but requires either MSX
DOS or machine code to make use of it.
Your RAM pack is probably OK, but
appears not to be of much use to you,
although if you are using a 32k MSX, then
you should be able to use 64k games.
David Haslett, Blackpool, Lancs.
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS * 18 MARCH 1989 • 43
£389.00
Workbench 1.3 Upgrade for Amiga owners
Brother M1109 Printer
Star LC10 Colour Printer
Star LC10 Mono Printer
Philips CM8833 Stereo Monitor
£15.00
UL
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Commodore Amiga A500 Computer with Modulator, Mouse, Workbench,
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AMIGA WRITE CARTRIDGE
Simply plug in to your Amiga and monitor all data written to your disk
drive, LED flashes when data is being written allowing you to monitor disk
writing by Virus programs, write protect switch will also automatically tell
your Amiga that any disk inserted in the drive is write protected when it
may or may not be (stops viruses in their tracks). Switch included to turn
the external drive off to free memory for games etc
SECTOR SOFTWARE
39 WRAY CRESCENT
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Amstrad PCW Joystick Interface
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AMX Mouse with Desk Top for BBC
AMX Mouse with Art for Spectrums
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Kempston Mouse with Jeeves for PCW
Kempston Mouse with Toolkit for Spectrum
Kempston Mouse with Blueprint for CPC
PRINTERS
Citizen 180E
Star LC10
Star LC10 Commodore
Star LC10 Colour
Star LC10 Colour Commodore
Amstrad DMP 3250
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520 T.V. Modulator
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COMMODORE PC1
RF552C 2nd Disk Drive 5.25" £129.95
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(АП other makes at up to 5096 off R.R.P.)
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COMMODORE 64
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Micromate Power Supply
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AMSTRAD PC
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Atari Megafile 30 Hard Disc £529.00
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Atari SLM802 Lazer Printer £1049.00
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* NB: All prices include lead.
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* NB: All above prices include lead.
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YES, а like to keep in touch with the latest computer news,
І releases and airing bargains by subscribing to New Computer l Here are the highlights of the previous issues - but remember they also
| Express. | would like to subscribe for: 1 contain at your regular favourites: news, games reviews, machine columns,
Į -56 issues costing just £24.95 © 26 issues costing just £12.50 | beginners guide, controversies, tech tips, letters, PSsst, vouchers etc etc.
І (tick one box only) І Issue 1: Future of computing, PC graphics, revival of Basic, Xmas games
Issue 2: Which computer?, the perfect wordprocessor, Konix console
[| Мале eese o mers coc c ————————— l Issue 3: Portable computing, Alan Sugar profile part I, yuppie software
[Ао ОИ ааа | Issue 4: Sega's16-bit console, best value PC, games that change your life
1 I Issue 5: PC 200 fiasco, DTP guide, computer art, Unix explained
pee у OSE Bt aS Issue 6: MGT Coupe, careers in computing, Realtime profile, cracking
l I Issue 7/8: Best games of '88, review of the year, look forward to '89
l Аде: <18 || 18-25 | 26-35 36-45 | >45 l Issue 9: Censorship controversy, classic computer problems solved
Сотршеәг...............................—.===че-әшне- к ОО Issue 10 : PC software guide, Christmas games tips, Release Schedule wk 1
1 l Issue 11 : CDI technology, choosing a printer, Alan Sugar profile final part
I Total рауаб с... неонови аа а ЕО I Issue 12: Being a smart consumer, dyslexia and computers, Jack Tramiel story
П Payment Бу: || Access || Visa || Cheque | | РО І Issue 13 : Konix console, da Vinci exhibition, best Amiga software, shareware
Issue 14 : Which PC?, PC Engine CD ROM, Hackers, Workbench 1.3
I AGOBBS/VIBR IO сс son nase cace tnos iro сейден ныне н найды, I Issue 15 : MiniGEN, monitors, virus book reviews, Sir Clive Sinclair
I Expiry date: April 10th 1989 I - e. : ir special, History of зе PC, TV be € graphics
Pi 25 1 Publishin sco Fan dnte sue 17 : Digitisers, programming languages, History of the Spectrum
l soa a кат на ide sent "Шида Issue 18 : ST essentials, Hypertext, QuickBASIC review, History of ће ВВС
I Somerset TA11 7PY. No stamp required if posted in the UK. l
e E cad.
a eee REVIEWS
@ This week heralded the arrival
of a Pool simulation courtesy of
Firebird. Fortunately 3-D Pool
manages to breathe new life
into the boring old flat approach
to a Pool/Snooker sim.
While on the strategic front,
War In Middle Earth — based on
The Lord of the Rings — should
appeal to wargamer and Tolkien
fan alike.
Interestingly, both of these
titles were reviewed on the C64,
which all goes to show there's
plenty of life left in this old 8-bit
diehard. 3]
OPERATION NEPTUNE
INFOGRAMES
ST + £24.95dk
Also on Amiga
Bob Morane's back on the beat again, though this
time he's up against the Yellow Shadow down
below.
€ GAMEPLAY
Op Neptune is a sub-aquatic seek and destroy shootem-
up with more than a little strategy, in which you must use
mines to destroy a network of enemy bases linked by
energy grids. You're working for the free world, and if all
your bases, oxygen and energy disappear its game
over. In the meantime, new bases and links are being
built all the time, and given protection ranging from
mines to guard and war patrols. You have underwater
3D POOL
FIREBIR
C64 £9.99cs, £12.99dk
Due out on ST, Amiga, Archimedes, Spectrum,
CPC, MSX, BBC
Since CDS's Steve Davis' Snooker and Code
Masters' Pro-Snooker Simulator cleaned up very
nicely thank you, it would seem there'll be plenty
of potters cueing up for shot at 3D Pool.
€ GAMEPLAY
Although 3D Pool has options for two-player, demo,
practice and trick shot modes, its main feature is a
tournament in which you get to play the best of 3
games against 3 different opponents before taking on
a sim of Maltese Joe Barbara, the current European
champion.
There's no cue anywhere to be seen - instead you
judge the shot by imagining a line from the cue ball to
the centre of the screen. So instead of moving your
cue around the table, the table moves around you. This
is effected by simply moving the joystick. You can also
move vertically for progressively more
overhead views. The degree to which you
get 'above' the table is deemed to signify
the amount of top or bottom you wish to
put on the cue ball. Holding down fire and
moving the stick from left to right allows
you to increase or decrease the power of
the shot. Then it's a simple double-click to
let fly. You may also zoom in or out of a
position - particularly useful if the balls are
packed tight.
The opposition get progressively
stronger of course, and whilst there's no obvious bias
in the ability of your sim opponents let's just say some
* BBC: Yes, even out on the good old Beeb
of the shots they manage to pull off do have a certain
flair. Having said that, gameplay is great and emulates
poołplay sufficiently accurately to be of good use on
the real baize.
€ GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Even on the C64 the graphics are impressive. Rotating
shots can be zoomed and elevated whilst the balls are
still in motion - a combination of code that probably
eats up all the 64's processing power. Although the ball
colours are either red or deep red, they're still
sufficiently distinguishable to remove confusion. Sound
is confined to the spoteffect of balls dropping into
pockets.
€ OTHER VERSIONS
Of the ones we've seen, the Archimedes version
Obviously wins hands down. Here you can almost
* Archie should look the same on the ST and Amiga
believe you're dealing. with photo-quality
graphics, and there's the added bonus of
being able to cursor directly onto the exact
spot on the object ball you want to connect
with before making the shot. Otherwise all
versions are very good and will no doubt
sell in droves.
€ EXPRESS VERDICT
A pretty neat pool simulator that uses solid
3D to full advantage and combines it with
great gameplay. A game that'll have you
dying to get out onto a real table to show
off how much you've learned.
оодоо
а;
Andy Storer
PLAYER DNE”, Ss
* C64 : Not bad eh?
Scooters, decoy and time-bombs at your disposal, plus
the chance to slip into rubber and engage in flippered
fisticuffs — as well as a whole submarine to navigate – in
à bid to rid the undersea world of the yellow peril
€ GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Neptune uses excellent graphics to depict the various
locales and scenarios comprising the average gameplay.
These begin with well-crafted animation screens which
curiously descend into rather uniform underwater
landscapes. Spoteffect sound is promising too, with the
backing music score top-notch.
* We all live in a Yellow Submarine. Well, a sort of bluey-grey
submarine, actually.
€ OTHER VERSIONS
The Amiga version is a near identical outing to the ST,
but benefits from slightly better sound effects and, of
course, a stereo rendition of the impressive music
score.
€ EXPRESS VERDICT
An above-average variant on a strategic shoot-em-up,
with neat graphics and atmosphere. Unfortunately,
gameplay fails to deliver after more than a few loads, so
it cant be recommended as an essential purchase at
this price-point.
ooo
LEGEND OF THE SWORD
RAINBIRD
Andy Storer
PC + £24.99dk
Also on ST, Amiga
Legends appearance on the ST back in August
won wide critical acclaim for its original graphic
presentation and humorous parser. Now out on the
PC, how much of an adventure does it present?
€ GAMEPLAY
You and a bunch of five mercenaries are dispatched to
the Anar, where you're after a sword with which you can
slay a wizard. There are a variety of places, puzzles and
pitfalls to occupy your time and a very neat twist in the
tail.
Although there's nothing highly original about the
scenario, its the method of interaction which lifts
Legend from the usual dross of wizard v warrior outings.
Many common adventure commands can be fed in using
the mouse, and your current and last location are
displayed in two windows. There's also the traditionall
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* The icon is mightier than the sword
NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989 • 47
iz
US*| means of interaction - you against the interpreter — and
EN
ENTERTAINME
REVIEWS
here you'll find a flexible and sophisticated parser that'll
have you regarding it as friend rather than foe.
© GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Legend is unique in presenting an almost fully mouse-
driven system complete with scrollable map and pictorial
representation of found objects. A useful inclusion are
direction icons which allow rapid movement between
locations. As with just about every adventure in the
universe, the only sound is that of the keyboard.
€ OTHER VERSIONS
Both the ST and Amiga versions are well worth checking
Out, though there's not a great deal of difference
between them and this outing.
€ EXPRESS VERDICT
An adventure which will hopefully set the trend for future
interactive games, but not necessarily in terms of
Scenario. In the meantime, a purchase for confirmed
parser-punters only.
ooo
Andy Storer
GOLDRUNNER II
MICRODEAL
Amiga • £19.95dk
Already on ST
* A bird's eye view of Goldrunner Il
When Goldrunner first appeared in 1987 it
achieved high acclaim for its state-of-the-art
vertical scroll routine, a feature unfortunately
negated by Goldrunner's lack of gameplay. Now
Goldrunner || is out, so has its predecessor's
deficiency in gameplay been rectified or ignored?
€ GAMEPLAY
Goldrunner II follows the standard route of the vertically-
scrolling shoot-em-up genre, with objects to pick up,
obstacles to avoid and aliens to shoot. It's done in a
routine, painfully familiar way with nothing new, exciting
or overwhelmingly addictive to justify prolonged play.
@ GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Goldrunner Il contains bog standard – if not stale —
audio-visuals, with the only noteworthy feature being the
extremely fast and smooth-moving vertical scroll routine
already used in the original Goldrunner.
For those gameplayers who persevere, keep-on
playing Goldrunner Il and get bored with the backdrops,
Microdeal is offering two add-on scenery disks costing
£5.95 each.
€ OTHER VERSIONS
Out first on the ST, Goldrunner Il is more or less the
Same on the ST albeit with slightly inferior audio quality.
€ EXPRESS VERDICT
Ouch! Goldrunner Il is based around a technically brilliant
smooth 'n' fast vertical scroll routine, with gameplay and
audio-visuals somewhat of an afterthought — and does it
show. Unplayable and monotonous gameplay coupled
with less-than-inspiring audio-visuals add up to a rather
forgettable shoot-em-up. Goldrunner Il completely fails to
compete with the excellent Hybris, Sidewinder or Xenon.
Goldrunner? More like golddigger.
o Rik Haynes
SCORPION
DIGITAL MAGIC SOFTWARE
Amiga • £24.95dk
Out soon on ST
Marking the debut release for a group of ex-CRL
designers and programmers called Digital Magi
Software,
platform exploration-type game.
€ GAMEPLAY
Taking on the guise of a Scorpion Warrior (complete with
motorbike helmet), you must travel through five different
levels in a quest to rescue the princess of Scorpia.
Along the way, you'll encounter all manner of hazards, |
creatures and traps — as well as extra weapon pick-ups –
before your confrontation with each of the five end-of-
level guardians.
@ GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Scorpion contains a strange combination of visual |
influences such as your motorbike helmet-clad character |
taking on pirates, crabs and seagulls on a pirate ship in
the first level.
unfortunately it
doesnt, due to its rudimentary |
backdrops and sprites, barely enlivened by a few visual |
| * Jumping from your speedboat onto the Pirate Galleon
tricks and enhancements.
оо
Scorpion is а horizontally-scrolling |
Which is fine if it had worked, but |
Audio is made up of purely functional sound spot.
effects.
€ OTHER VERSIONS
No details on any other version of Scorpion are currently
available.
€ EXPRESS VERDICT
While Scorpion is a reasonable first release, it
regrettably incorporates many unsatisfactory elements —
namely its tedious, unoriginal gameplay and odd mix of
visual ideas — producing a game neither special or
entertaining.
Scorpion is disappointing. Hopefully Digital will do
better next time.
Rik Haynes
ро00000| n j|
WAR IN MIDDLE EARTH
| MELBOURNEHOUSE | HOUSE
E £9.99cs, £14.99dk
Also on Spectrum, CPC
Out around Easter on ST, Amiga, PC
* In the lands of Middle Earth
In golden days of old, before the day of the 16-
bit, there came a licence deal between
Melbourne House and the publishers of the works
of J.R.R. Tolkien. The first of these micro game
versions was The Hobbit, an adventure game
more noted for its bugs than quality of gameplay.
Then came Lord of the Rings, a menu-driven
adventure marred by slow speed of operation.
Now there's War in Middle Earth, a wargame by
Mike "Lords of Midnight" Singleton...
€ GAMEPLAY
Taking the role of the Hobbit Frodo Baggins, you set
out with the help of your friends and allies to the land of
Mordor in order to cast "The One Ring" into the Cracks
of Doom, thus defeating the evil Sauron and ending his
grip over the kingdoms of Middle Earth. Unfortunately,
it's not that simple a task, and along the way Sauron's
forces will try to thwart your every manoeuvre.
War in Middle Earth is played over a map of Middle
Earth, with you able to move your cursor around this
and a zoomedin Campaign Map, where you can gain
information and issue orders to your forces. You can
also select which character should be the ring-bearer.
When combat occurs, everyone in your force involved
in the action is represented and able to take part in the
ensuing battle.
© GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Visuals perform their assigned duties well, but they're
certainly not outstanding. Details displayed in the
Campaign Map are clear, concise and informative. The
combat sequence is competently drawn and animated.
Far less impressive is the audio, which seems to
have been painfully bolted-on at the end of the games
development.
@ OTHER VERSIONS
The Spectrum and CPC versions are very similar to the.
C64, and are well worth a look. 16-bit War in Middle
Earth tradesin the character involvement in the
battleground for more character interaction in the rest
of the game. The 16-bit preview samples we've seen
look very promising, especially the VGA PC version. ST,
Amiga and PC War of Middle Earth should be released
in the next few weeks.
€ EXPRESS VERDICT
Although War in Middle Earth is an admirable release
which should appeal to Tolkien and wargammer fans
alike, we just couldn't help feeling the huge potential for
a computer game based on Tolkien's writings still
hadn't been realised. Of course, there's always a
chance with the sequel to the sequel to Lord of the
Rings...
ооо
Rik Haynes
* Issuing your orders on the campaign map
48 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
ATARI 520 ST-FM SUPER PACK WITH £450
WORTH OF SOFTWARE ..£369.99
FABRIC RIBBON
RE-INKING SERVICE
ATARI 1040 ST-FM SUPER PACK £469.99
31/2" 50 CAPACITY STORAGE BOX £4.95
51/4" 50 CAPACITY STORAGE BOX £3.99
NO NEED TO BUY A NEW RIBBON
WHEN YOUR PRINTER GOES PALE!
ALL TYPES OF RIBBON RE-INKED
(Amstrad, Brother, Epson, Star, Citizen etc.)
Only £1.45 per Ribbon
51/4" DSDD BULK IN LIBRARY CASE ............. £4.50 FOR 10
Re-ink like new
SAVE £££'S!!
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE - QUICK SERVICE
Post used cassette with payment to:
S + J Brothers
Hillview Post Office, Alexandria,
Dumbartonshire G83 0QD
(0389) 52680 (24 hours)
(| 3 1/2 " DISKS йш
10 x 3.5" DS/DD ..
25 x 3.5" DS/DD
50 x 3.5" DS/DD
100 x 3.5" DS/DD
250 x 3.5" DS/DD ...
500 x 3.5" DS/DD
1,000 x 3.5" DS/DD
100 Capacity 3.5" Capacity Disk box
Printers inc lead. All prices INC. VAT & 3 - day courier.
Please add 5% to all prices if ordering by credit card. Cheques and postal orders to:
HARDWARE DISTRIBUTION
ЕЧ Dept NCE, 1st Floor,
19 Division Street, Sheffield S1 4GE
Tel 0742 726485
31/2" DSDD 1MB 135TPI BULK. 8.50 FOR 10
SONY 31/2" 0500.......................................
NASHUA 31/2" DSDD .................................
31/2" DISKS HEADCLEANING KIT
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VOUCHERS
50 CAP. 31/2" STORAGE BOX £ 2 5 00
25 31/2" DSDD 1MB DISK А
FREE CLEANING КІТ WITH ALL ORDERS OVER £15 (Worth £2.99)
DEALERS! ! CALL US NOW FOR BEST PRICES
ALL PRICES INCLUDE V.A.T. AND DELIVERY
Callers 091 516 0065
OR send cheque or P.O. with your order
Branded and Unbranded TEL (091) 5160065
Disks at Competitive Prices FAX: (091) 516 0065
е е e
HOBURNE CONSULTANTS LTD
10A SOUTHWICK INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, SOUTHWICK, SUNDERLAND SR5 3TX
SPECIALISTS IN THE SUPPLY AND INSTALLATION OF COMPUTER HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND DATA SUPPLIES
A ATARI ST and С: ames
Sixteen Bit Su iperdeals from the Sixteen Bit Specialists!
CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE! Ter comparing prices remember ours include fast delivery by courier.
520 STFM Super Pack Amiga A500 System 1
£349.00 £365.00
Inc VAT and Next Day Delivery Inc Vat and Next Day Delivery.
System 1 includes:
* Amiga A500 512K Keyboard with Built-in 1 Megabyte disk drive
* Free TV modulator worth £24.99 allowing gui use the Amiga with a normal TV.
Amiga BASIC, Ата EXTRAS, Workbench PLUS e Amiga Step by step Tutorial.
* All leads, manuals PLUS MOUSE and mains plug!
Super Pack includes:
ж 520STFM 512K Keyboard with Built-in 1Megabyte disk drive and TV Modulator
ж £450 of games software including BUGGY BOY, TEST DRIVE, MARBLE MADNESS,
WIZBALL and 17 more.
+ Organiser Business Software including WORDPROCESSOR, SPREADSHEET and DATABASE
FREE JOYSTICK!
* All leads, manuals PLUS MOUSE and free mains plug! 3
REMEMBER! Мапу $Т do not come with BASIC-ours come with ST BASIC REV D by Metacomco. Amiga A500 System 2 Amiga A500 System 3
Also available with only one free game and no joystick or Organiser — £385.00
£269.00 inc.
ж Amiga A500 S) tom 1 PLUS £265 worth
+ Amiga A500 System 1 PLUS £230.00 of sofware comprising 8 games and PHOTON
worth of software comprising 10 games PAINT graphics package plus Workbench 1.3
£439.00
As above but with 1 meg 1040STFM
1040STFM Business Pack £439.00
Business Pack Includes:
* Atari 1040STFM Keyboard with 1 meg memory and 1 meg built-in disk drive plus TV
modulator.
* £360 worth of Business Software including MICROSOFT WRITE word processor
(£150), SUPERBASE PERSONAL Database (£60) and VIP PROFESSIONAL Lotus.
123 Spreadsheet clone (£150) ж All leads, manuals and mouse
NEW! AMIGA 1 MEG! £499.00
‘Announcing the new Amiga 1 meg-an A500 system 1 with fitted 1 megabyte memory expansion
and clock card PLUS TV Modulator AND DRAGON'S LAIR a six disk 1 meg megagame!
AMIGA 1 MEG+ £519.00
Our Amiga 1 meg + also includes the £230 worth of games software normally
given with our A500 System 2 Games Pack.
NIT‘
PRINTERS Commodore Amiga A1084 Stereo МОМ) ORS E
Star LC10 including interface lead for ST/Amiga £23900 Atari SC1224 Colour Monitor inc lead
( We Accept
EXPRESS | -
VOUCHERS
Star C10 colour including interface lead for SUAmiga 124
Citizen 1200 including interface lead for ST/Amiga. £159.00 Май 54124 Mono Moniior incuing lead
Lp mL cu ELLE
th І
in Ju
ng Vektor
ng gain
Rik Haynes previews five new releases, including the latest from Vektor Graphix
BOMBER * VEKTOR GRAFIX
Vektor Grafix — the software development company
responsible for the micro conversions of the Star
Wars and The Empire Strikes Back coin-ops for
Domark - is currently producing a game under their
own name.
Bomber is an alkaction, head-to-head flight-sim
giving you the chance to fly any one of a possible 14
different aircraft — including a F-15 Strike Eagle, F-4
Phantom, F-111 Libya-special and even a Soviet Mig 27
Flogger.
Bomber is due for release soon on Spectrum,
C64, CPC, ST, Amiga and PC .
SUBWAY VIGILANTE
& STREET CRED BOXING
PLAYERS PREMIER
WOW Software Developments, formerly Reptilia
Design, is presently putting the finishing touches to
two budget games on the C64 due for release next
month. Subway Vigilante throws you into the
dangerous ‘Guardian Angel’ world of the London
Underground, forcing you to take on the scum of the
city in your quest to protect the innocent. Street
Cred Boxing sees you in a fight for the right to fight –
as your favourite boxing gym is under threat from
Some unscrupulous yuppies who want to redevelop
the site.
RINGSIDE • EAS
If you can't wait for the Bruno-Tyson rematch, then
Ringside could be just the ticket, with you placed in
control of a boxer itching to become the king of the ring.
Along the way, you'll have to create and train your
boxing alter-ego, learn the tricks of the trade and punch
out ten opponents before reaching that coveted number
one spot. Know what | mean, Harry? Out soon on ST,
Amiga and PC.
AAARGH! * MELBOURNE HOUSE
AAARGH! was originally an Arcadia Amiga-based coin
op game, and is based around the exploits of some
‘rampaging’ monsters. Out shortly on Spectrum and
C64 — ST, Amiga and PC versions are already
available.
50 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 18 MARCH 1989
incredible : VOUCHER и
New гм
Computer Xi
Express ООо С
voucher | VOUCHEF
scheme can | (тэ
1 DOT.
Save you
£10 =
when you buy mr
from adverts -n
magazine! EA
£1.00 voucher. Valid for orders above £20
This voucher may be used as £1.00 part Payment on any order totalling over
£20 from a participating advertiser in New Computer Express. You simply fill in
the details below and send it off with your order.
Your name
Address
Telephone (if possible)
Item (s) purchased
Only one voucher per order is allowed. This voucher and its accompanying
order must be received by the advertiser before 9am March 27, 1989.
£2.00 voucher. Valid for orders above £40
This voucher may be used as £2.00 part payment on any order totalling over
£40 from a participating advertiser in New Computer Express. You simply fill in
Y the details below and send it off with your order.
Your name
Address
Telephone (if possible)
Item (s) purchased
Only one voucher per order is allowed. This voucher and its accompanying
order must be received by the advertiser before 9am March 27, 1989.
"Ыг = = = = = = = = — = —— ш в аз ош аш аш єз єз эз эш ш өш өз эш зов
£3.00 voucher. Valid for orders above £60
This voucher may be used as £3.00 part payment on any order totalling over
£60 from a participating advertiser in New Computer Express. You simply fill in
the details below and send it off with your order.
Your name
Address
Telephone (if possible)
tem (s) purchased
Only one voucher per order is allowed. This voucher and its accompanying
order must be received by the advertiser before 9am March 27, 1989.
ЪТ = = = чт = = = = = = em ш ee ee eee eee ee
£4 voucher. Valid for orders above £80
This voucher may be used as £4.00 part payment on any order totalling over
£80 from a participating advertiser in New Computer Express. You simply fill in
the details below and send it off with your order.
four name
\ddress
elephone (if possible)
ет (s) purchased
Only one voucher per order is allowed. This voucher and its accompanying
order must be received by the advertiser before ат March 27, 1989.
€ The Express voucher is a special
scheme to encourage you to buy New
Computer Express regularly.
@ It offers you savings of up to £10 when
you buy goods through the magazine.
€ The vouchers are not limited to specific
items — you can save on any purchase
from one of the participating advertisers.
€ Most mail order
advertisers in this mag-
azine are taking part in
the scheme – just look
for this sign. 3
| WE Accept
VOUCHERS
@ Remember. The use of just one vouch-
er could more than recoup the price of
the magazine.
THE FIVE SIMPLE RULES
11. Express vouchers сап be used to obtain discounts on purchases of
goods advertised in this issue of New Computer Express, provided
that they are bought directly from an advertiser taking part in the
scheme. The vouchers are valid only for those advertisements which
say "We Accept Express Vouchers"
2. Each voucher entitles you to a discount at the voucher's face value,
provided that your overall order level is higher than the figure indicated
on the back of the voucher.
3. To use a voucher, simply enclose it with your discounted payment
when you order. You may use only one voucher in any one order.
4. The order including the voucher must be received by the advertiser
before the closing date printed on the voucher.
5. You must fill in the details requested on the voucher.
We Accept
EXPRESS 574.78 Ш остаз 59217
VOUCHERS 661.00 fl 768.
746.09 M 70261
00
о 520STFM SUPER PACK
\ A A Includes STEM with IMEG drive, 21 games with
business software (worth over $450) & Joystick
Ti RI Only £339.00 od
820 STFM latest version with 1MEG drive fitted .
1040 STFM latest model, including TV modulator
1040 STFM machine as above, with ‘Microsoft Writ 3
1040 STFM machine as above, including 21 games, business software &
joystick extras as supplied with above '520 STFM Super Pack’
1040 STFM as above with super pack extras, 'MS-Write' & "МІР Pro.
‘Buy a monochrome monitor with any 1040 from above for £110.00 extra
Меда ST2 with mono monitor, 'MS-Write' and МІР Pre £849.00
Mega ST4 with mono monitor, 'MS-Write' and 'VIP Pr. £1099.00
SLM804 laser printer, great value at
$М124/5 mono monitor
Меда ST2 package - includes Meg: А
5" drive, SLM804 laser printer, ‘Microsoft Write’, ‘VIP Professional’,
leet St. Publisher’ software and 90 days on site maintenance
Nari ОТР system - includes Mega ST4, mono monitor,
SLM804 laser printer, 30Mb hard disk, ‘Fleet Street
Publisher’ software and 90 days on site maintenance .
525" External drive 40/80 track 360/720K formatted capacity .
Pace Linnet Modem Pack inc.cable & software . x
Pye 1185 157 FST teletext remoto cl TV/Monitor c/w ST or Amiga cable .
ilips CM8833 colour monitor c/w ST or Amiga cable £2
Philips CM8852 as above, higher resolution
Cameron Handy Mouse, high quality replacement ST mouse
SPECIAL OFFER AMIGA PACK
А new Amiga 500 package including the following: (extras worth over £270)
+ Amiga 500 computer — Photon
* Demolition
ж TV. Modulator * Karate Kid Ш я Atax all for only
+ Mouse & Mouse mat plus 5 disks of
35
public domain s/ware £399.00
Oceanic OC-118 647128 disk drive for 64/128 with free GEOS software
Oceanic OC-118 as above with Freeze Machine А
Freeze Machine complete backup cartridge, with integral reset button
LC-10 commodore 64/128 ready printer inc. 2 extra black ribbons free ..
1C-10 7-colour version of above printer inc. 2 extra black ribbons
Amiga & ST 3.5" Drives
|х Very Quiet Fully compatible, high quality 3.5"
К Fuly отра но external drives forthe Stand Amiga
iva mechantim Amiga version only £79.95
B опата pugin £3 Yor Sr Atari ST version only £82.95
k IMb unformatted capacity Prices include VAT & delivery
Western Digital Filecards
Upgrading your PC to hard disk? Look no further, we offer the best prices
bn top quality hardcards. Thorough documentation supplied, low power
етра, with free ХТгее file management software and Speedread. For
Amstrad PC 1512/1640 users we за ШЕ edd tested and formatted, with
four simple software installation procedure. The best packages available!
20 MEG...£219.00 32 MEG...£239.00
for all Atari ST models
only £24.95
Version 4 disk utilities for the ST, features include: protected software backup,
[eating the new turbo nibbler, a faster and more powerful copier, which uses all available
fives & memory and includes 56 parameter options for handling a greater range of software;
B boot to allow many programs to startup from drive B; organiser accessory providing
major disk management commands; extra format giving over 15% extra user storage
per floppy disk; fast backup; ramdisk accessory; undelete file; PLUS many more!
3.5" disks 5.25" disks
5 in plastic case £13.95 25...£13.95 17 50 cap box £22.95
5 in 40 cap case £34.95 Ж f in 100 cap box £24.95
guaranteed double sided media Fully guaranteed double sided media
Amstrad PC1512/1640/2086
We offer a wide choice of Amstrad PCs with many upgrade options, including
the very latest PC2086 range. For the hard disk option, check our ‘Evesham
Upgraded Models’. Only the best will do - so we normally upgrade by means
of a Western Digital Filecard, which includes XTree and SpeedRead software;
however on single drive 1512/1640 models we can offer internal installations at
the same price (leaving more expansion room but no upgrade opportunity for
a 2nd floppy drive). We can provide on-site service contracts at time of purchase
= please telephone for details. Prices in lighter type exclude VAT.
Free with 1512 models... Ability and 4 US Gold Games
101247 r 120261 MÀ 1108.70 122000
1164.00 X .00| [1383.00] |1275.00] [1403.00
PC1640 Summer Promotion Pack
Includes PC1640 DD with mono monitor, DMP4000 printer and software pack inc.
Wordstar 1512, Supercalc 3.1 and Accounts Master DD £899.00 inc.VAT
оріїопаі ехіїгаѕ
3.5 inch drive (720К) for
any single drive models .... £79.95
РС2000 series compatible 360K
5.25" external drive ... £100.00
Joystick & Controller Card
self centering analog type .. ... £34.95
Amstrad PPCs
Low prices on all portable PCs - especially twin drive models
prices in brackets are excluding VAT
£373.04) £429.00 PPC640S ........ (£477.39) £549.00
£433.91) £499.00 PPC640D . . (£546.96) £629.00
New low price External 3.5" floppy drive (720K) to suit ANY Amstrad
1512/1640 inc. DD and HD models! Uses no expansion slots ..... £99.95
Central Point Software
For all your PC disk management requirements
PC Tools Deluxe Version 5...Other utillities may claim to ‘do it all’ but only PC Tools Deluxe
is the complete disk utility p, providing a fast hard disk backup, the best undelete available, |
100% safe formatting of floppy and hard disks, unformat, reliable disk caching, compress facility |
in fact everything required to manage & protect your data al a sensible price. £49.95
he most effective floppy disk backup utility of it's type. We always
out
4.95,
software using
most powera! backup copier product on the market, and can even transform any PC equipped|
jual
wih a 257 drive into а dual purpose IBM/Macintosh drive ‘Allows your PC to read and write (о)
IMAC data disks easily through DOS. Comes as an easy-to-fit short card.
PRINTERS
All prices include VAT, delivery and cable
We use and recommend Star printers since they do
offer an unbeatable combination of features, print
quality, reliability and value. Make the sensible
decision - get it right with a Star printer at our
special. all in, prices.
Star LC10 best-selling 144/36cps printer, 4 NLQ fonts, inc.2 extra ribbons free .. £199.00
Star LC10 7-colour version of above printer, inc.2 extra black ribbons .. £249.
Star LC24-10 feature-packed multifont 24
Star NB24-10 great value 24pin inc. cut sheet feeder +
Star NX-15 budget wide carriage printer
Star NB24-15 wide carr.version of NB24-10 i
24pin, great value Кор
good value 10" with serial/parallel interfaces
Panasonic KXP1081 reliable budget 10" printer 120/24 cps
Panasonic KXP1124 great new sturdy 10° multifont 24pin printer
Epson LXB00 popular 10" 180/25 ops
Epson |0500 good 24pin printer 150/50 cps
Citizen 120D good value 10" 120 cps
Citizen HQP-45 wide carriage 24pin printer - a bargain
How to order
All prices VAT/delivery inclusive
Express courier delivery £5.00 extra |EVesham Micros Ltd
Send cheque, P.O. or ACCESS/VISA details ШТС TaT: TE TESTI:
Phone with ACCESS/VISA detail:
Gout едис. & PLE official orders welcome AW, Eves nee келе
‘subject 10 availability E&O.E. orcs
callers 6 days, 9.30-5.30
EXP ө баз, a 30530, Tel: 0386 765500
Also at: 1762 Pershore Rd., Cotteridge, Birmingham, B30 3BH Tel: 021 458 4564
computer cock-ups...
Vancouver Stock
Exchange, 28
November 1983
Investors are amazed to find this
morning's index at 1098.892, a rise of
over fifty per cent! Spokeswoman Dawn
Seasons admits that whereas the 1,500
stocks represented by the Index are
calculated to four decimal places, they
are only printed to three. Instead of
rounding the last digit up or down, the
computers have been chopping them off
and flushing them down the electronic
toilet, This results in the loss of an Index
point a day, and nobody has spotted the
glitch in twenty-two months of operation!
Toronto Star, 29.11.83
Cape Kennedy, Florida,
1969
Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins blast off for
humanity's first voyage to the moon, just!
Mr Joel Aron of IBM's Federal Systems
Division is responsible for a large part of
the software, and while in a ‘relaxed
condition’ at the swimming pool admits
that the Apollo software was ‘full of bugs
In one of the trajectory computations we
had the Moon's gravity repulsive rather
than attractive.’ His colleague Steve
Olson asks when this fact was
discovered, ‘Oh,’ says Aron, ‘five days
ago
(Steve Olson)
Portland, Oregon, USA
J Michael Read, the Tri City Service
District ‘supervisor, confirms that
programmers are full of crap. When a
burned-out wire halts the sewage
treatment pumps between idnight and
breakfast time on Wednesd. a
programming error assure the automatic
telephone alarms that everything is
absolutely normal. Next morning 40,000
residents receive brown hot water from
their shower heads, and an interesting
new scent in their shampoo. One and a
half million gallons of raw sewage have
flooded the Willamette River, and the
backup alarms have been neutralised
Computer chaos М
Mel Croucher's contemporary archives of amazing, but true,
because they ‘disturb the night
Matters are ‘put right.’ At 3am on Mo
morning an electrical f. shuts d
the pumps at the зе station. The
computer system has been n
that computer operators cai
computer commands in the
a failure, but only after
stinks up the Willamette
discovered that the system
when the computers ain't
humming through them
spoke
River
got
Shirley
epartment
s that
Kengla
ютап for the
of Environmental Quality
have a major spill.” How majo
it's five and a half million gallon:
22.9.88
'egon
эпі
The Oregonian,
The House of
Representatives,
Washington
On the 2nd of May, 1988,
votes on the vital funding t
Strategic Defence Initiative,
as the computer-conti
егісапѕ putting so
in computers, they use one tc
their votes. The It is 35
ainst 237 ‘nays’. The Hot i
presentatives has 435 member
Gary Chapman, Software Engine
Notes
Hong Kong, 10 July
1984
The death is announce
Chin Soo Ying
computer named Tsen Tse
British С
fy it over the yea
machine, and he v
to moc to enhance its
intelligence and give it concepts of love
and emotion. Recently he constructed a
new machine named Woo Shi, and
34-year-old Tsen Tsen to c
dow states that T
jealous of the ne
herself, and fat
creator, simultaneously
suicide.
Weekly World News
Andy is the one in the red sweater.
* In the course of reviewing 3D Pool this week, Expresss Andy Storer was challenged by World
Pool Champion 'Maltese' Joe Barbara to a match. In a surprise result, Joe sneaked home by the
odd couple of frames in the two-frame challenge. For those of you watching in black and white,
Microsoft's techno billionaire Bill Gates on
facing up to the competition.
И
Atari UK's boss Bob Gleadow when asked
about the ‘Amiga beating’ Super ST.
A police computer crime specialist to The
Observer on the escalating dangers of
computer hacking.
54 • NEW COMPUTE
520ST-FM SUPER PACK
Arkanoid II
Black Lamp
Buggy Boy
Chopper X
Ikari Warriors
Marble Madness
Quadralien
Ranarama
Retum To Genesis
Roadwars
Starquake
Test Drive
Thrust
Parc
Za
The Atari Super Pack is ideal for you if you want to get off to a fying start
with the best in entertainment software, The Pack includes a S20ST-FM
ith УМЫ RAM, а built-in TMD disk drive, over £480 of lop games and а
Joystick. И you buy the Super Pack at Silica Shop, we will add our own ST
‘Starter Kit (worth over £200), Free Of Charge. Return the coupon for details.
Seconds Out
Summer Olympiad '88
Organiser
Atari CX40 Joystick
ARCADE GAMES
Beyond The Ice Palace
Hewson Consultants
Melbourne House
Melbourne House
Hewson Consultants
SPORTS SIMULATIONS
Eddie Edwards Super Ski
FREE ATARI BUNDLE VALUE:£458.97
£19.95
£19.95
£19.95
£19.95
£9.99
£14.95
£24.95
£19.95
£19.95
£19.95
£19.95
£19.95
£24.95
£9.95
£19.95
£19.95
£19.95
£19.99
Imagine
Elite
Firebird
Elite
Mastertronic
Elite
Electronic Arts
Logotron
Firebird
Mandarin
Electronic Arts
Firebird
Elite
Ocean
Elite
Tynesoft
Tynesoft
£19.95
£19.95
£19.95
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE
Triangle Publishing £49.95
JOYSTICK
Atari Corp £4.99
With SM124 mono monitor: £498 7;
With SC1224 colour monitor: £698 i
NOW WITH TV MODULATOR
serious home user and the small business, we ar
10 announce a new package based around the
1040ST-FM. The 1040ST-FM has 1Mbyte RAM and a
1Mbyte built-in disk drive. In addition, the 1040ST-FM.
now comes with a TV modulator built-in, (The previously
available 1040ST-F was designed for use with a monitor
only and did not come with a modulator.) This modulator
allows the 1040ST-F to be plugged directly into any
domestic TV set, and comes complete with a lead to
allow you to do so. The new ‘Professional from
Silica includes the new 1040ST-FM with modulator plus
four high quality software packages including a spread-
sheet, database, word processor and programming lang-
je. This "Professional Pack’ software will enable you to
t straight down to business with your new computer. In
to this software (worth £384.84), if you buy the
опы Pack from Silica Shop, you wil also receive
ler Kit (worth ow Freo Of
Energa. Bots ihe coupon for toner копте,
£499
INCLUDING VAT
With SM124 mono monitor: — #5981
With SC1224 colour monitor: £798%
ATARI 1040ST-FM-
VIP PROFESSIONAL
MICROSOFT WRITE
2Mb & 4Mb MEGA ST
The MEGA ST computers are styled as as lightweight keyboard with a separate CPU,
connected by a coiled telephone style cable. There are two versions of the MEGA ST,
опе with 2Mbytes of RAM and the other with 4Mbytes. Each version has a 1Mbyte
double sided disk drive built-in to the CPU unit. The MEGA ST's do not come with
modulator built-in and must therefore be used with a monitor. With every MEGA ST
purchased, we will add the ‘Professional Pack’ software (worth £384.83) detailed
above, plus the Sil-
ica ST Starter Kit
(worth over £200)
both Free Of Charge,
Return the coupon
for further details.
+mono monito
+colour monito
998
1198
+ mono monitor - £1298
*colour monitor - £1498
SUPERBASE PERSONAL
BASIC DISK & MANUAL
NORMAL RRP: £884.82
LESS DISCOUNT: - £385.82
PROFESSIONAL PACK PRICE: £499.00
(Computer) £499.99.
(Spreadsheet) £149.95.
(Word Processor) £149.95
(Database) £59.95
(Language) £24.98
DIP PageStream £149...
Desktop Publishing (ОТР) is one of the fastest growing applications for personal
computers. We are pleased to announce a powerful low cost package for the Atari ST
called PageSiream. PageStream costs only £149 (+VAT=£1715) and, because it
Works with an Atari 1040ST and a Seikosha SP-IBOAI printer, you can be up and
Tunning with a complete system for less than £1000. Some of the features of
PageSiream are listed to the right. !f you would like further information on this
program, complete and return the coupon below, ticking the DTP box in the corner.
+ TAG FUNCTION
It you already own an Atari ST computer and would like to be registered on our mailing list as an
ST user, let us know. We will be pleased to send you copies of our price lists and newsletters.
FREE OF CHARGE as they become available. Complete the coupon and return it to our Sidcup
branch and begin experiencing a specialist ST service that is second to none.
SIDCUP (& Mail Order) 01-309 1111
1-4 The Mews, Hatherley Road, Sidcup, Kent, DAT4 4DX
OPEN: MON-SAT Зат - 5.30pm __LATE NIGHT: FRIDAY 9am - 7pm
LONDON 01-580 4000
52 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1P OBA
OPEN: MON-SAT 9.30am - 6.00pm ^ LATE NIGHT: NONE
LONDON 01-629 1234 ext 3914
Selfridges (1st floor), Oxford Street, London, W1A 1AB
LATE NIGHT: THURSDAY Sam - 8pm
OPEN: MON-SAT 9am - 6.00pm
+ TEXT-FLOW AROUND GRAPHICS.
+ ROTATION OF TEXT & GRAPHICS
+ SLANT OR TWIST ANY OBJECT
+ POSTSCRIPT COMPATIBLE
+ AUTO/MANUAL KERNING & HYPHENATION
* GROUPING OF OBJECTS
Mr/Mrs/Ms:
Address:
But don't just take our word for й. Complete and return
the coupon below for our latest literature and begin to
‘experience the Silica Shop specialist Atari service.
WITH EVERY ST - RETURN COUPON FOR DETAILS
ALL PRICES QUOTED INCLUDE FREE UK DELIVERY,
To: Silica Shop Ltd, Dept NCE 0389,
PLEASE SEND FREE LITERATURE ON THE ATARI ST
Do you already own a computer
И! so, which one do you own?
ST COMPUTERS
The range of Atari ST computers offers something for everyone. From the games enthusiast
who wants the challenge of the very best in arcade action, to the businessman who wants to
make financial forecasts or faultless presentations. The ST offers high quality graphics,
sound and speed for the gamer, whilst providing a fast, user friendly and affordable solution
to business. The ST is now firmly established in the home environment and boasts a wealth
of users in education, local government, television, and a variety of different businesses.
Software for the range stretches to cover applications as diverse as ENTERTAINMENT,
ACCOUNTS, ART, COMMUNICATIONS, COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN, DATABASES,
DESKTOP PUBLISHING, EDUCATION, MUSIC, PROGRAMMING, SPREADSHEETS, WORD
PROCESSING and more. For a full list of the software available, as well as details of the ST
range, complete and return the coupon below. Ал рсе correct at йе tine of org opes ЕКОЕ
520ST-FM EXPLORER PACK
WITH BUILT-IN 1Mb DISK DRIVE
The value for money offered by the Atari ST range is reflected in the Explorer Pack
featuring the 520ST-FM computer with 512K RAM. The 520ST-FM computer now
‘comes with a built-in 1 Mb double sided disk drive as well as a free mouse controller
and a built-in TV modulator. The new 520ST-FM Explorer Pack includes the 520ST-
FM computer, the arcade game Ranarama, a tutorial program and some useful
desktop accessories. In addition, if you buy the Explorer Pack from Silica, we will
give you the Silica ST Starter Kit worth over £200, FREE OF CHARGE. Return the
‘coupon for details of our Starter Kit and of the full ST range.
£260 £299
+ SM124 mono monitor: £398 75s + SC1224 colour monitor: £598 (2
Before you decide when lo^buy your new Atari ST
computer, we suggest you consiper very carefully WHERE
you buy it. There are MANY companies who can offer
fou a computer, a few peripheralk and the top ten selling
Tiles. There are FEWER companies who can offer a wide
range of products for your computer and expert advice
and help when you need it. There is ONLY ONE
company who can provide the largest range of Atari ST
related products in the UK, a full ime Atari ST specialist
technical helpline and in-depth after sales support, inc
luding free newsletters and brochures delivered to your
door for as long as you require after you purchase your
computer. That one company is Silica Shop, We have
been established in the home computer field for ten years
with an annual turnover in excess of £8 million and can
now claim to meet our customers requirements with an
accuracy and understanding which is second to none
SILICA STARTER KIT: Worth over £200, FREE
‘with every Atari ST computer bought from Silica.
PROFESSIONAL PACK: Froo business software
with 10405T-FM and MEGA ST's bought from Silica.
DEDICATED SERVICING: 7 tu-me Atari trained
statt with years of experience on Atari servicing.
THE FULL STOCK RANGE: АІ
requirements from one place.
AFTER SALES SUPPORT: The stati at Silica are.
dedicated to help you get the best from your ST.
FREE CATALOGUES: Mailed direct to your home
as soon as we print them, featuring offers as well
as all of the new releases
FREE OVERNIGHT DELIVERY: On all hardware
orders shipped within the UK mainland.
PRICE MATCH PROMISE: We will maich comp-
elilors on a зате product same price’ basis.
FREE TECHNICAL HELPLINE: Full time team ot
Atari technical experts always at your service
of your Atari
1-4 The Mews, Hatherley Road, Sidcup, Kent, DA14 4DX
Initials: Surname:
Dept NCE 03 89,
DTP LI
Postcode:
Where do you buy an Amstrad 30Mb
2086 with colour monitor for £1091 at
3.45 on Saturday afternoon?
NORTH LONDON MANCHESTER WEST LONDON BIRMINGHAM
m ПАЛО] е» |
E A
99 PARK STREET LANE 85 WASHWAY ROAD 304 KINGSHILL AVENUE 1046-1048 COVENTRY RD
BRICKET WOOD (OPPOSITE IBM) (off Uxbridge Road) HEYMILLS, BIRMINGHAM
ST. ALBANS, HERTS SALE, MANCHESTER HAYES, MIDDLESEX 021-772 5212
(0727) 72790 061-962 0780 01-841 8744
SHOWROOM OPENING HOURS: Monday-Friday 9am-6pm Saturday 10am-5pm
COMPUTER
л extra 28 days Customer
£1091
in
E NH NH NH B NU AMSTRAD 2000 Series
not to mentio —Ó
EPSON LX800 TIMEWORKS ‘Single Drive 12° Mono. £566 Single Drive 14° Colour ....£711
‘Single Drive 12° Colour VGA... £806 Single Drive 14° Colour VGA... £901
This latest ffenng from Epson zips along at 150срв in draft and 25cps т The latest in low-cost DTP. An excellent package for anyone Dounie Dive 12 Mono... ЕРИ Double Drive 14 Colour... £889
NLO Comes complete with Parallel EscP or ІВМ Paral! interface as wanting to make a start in DTP for a very modest sum. Double Dive 12 Colour VGA 949 Double Drive 14° Colour VGA. £104
standard, plus top mounted tractor feed, Good clear typeface. and 80 column Timeworks is very popular. and has good telephone support 30 Mb Hard Dsk 12 Mono. 6949 30 Mb Hard Disk 14 Colour. £1091
wide £159.00 from the manufacturer and ourselves $89.00 39 Mo Hard Disk 12 Cok VGA £1189 30Mb Hard Disk 14° Co VGA. £1279
Colour version printing 7 colours £214.00 NEC P2200 NEW 2286 IBM AT conpatties
STAR LC-10 CO! Double Dive 12 Mono. £919 Double Drive 14' Cour... £159
At last! 24 pin quality that anybody can afford, with NEC's Double Drive 12 Colour VGA..£1149 Double Drive 14°Colour VGA 1239
The star of the printer world. Already its topping the ht parades. For the renowned reliability to match. This litle baby cruises along at 40 Mb Hard Disk 12 Mono ...£1239 40 Mb Hard Disk 14 Colour... 178
money no other panter offers so much. BO column тиот printer wih 8 168cps in high speed, 140cps in standard and a really nippy 40 Mo Hard Disk 12°Colr VGA £1469 40 Mb Hard Disk 14 Col VGA, £1859
resident fonts and paper parking. 144cps draft and 36cps п NLO quality 56cps in 24 pin letter quality mode. This printer should be on any NEW 2386 ideal for serous computing and networking
£219.00 discriminating buyers ist. NEC P2200. £289.00 65 Mo Hard Disk 12 Mono....£2439 65 Mb Hard Disk 14° Colour... £2579
Black only version £175.00 Cut Sheet Feed — Special this month £29.0 65 Mb Hard Disk 12 CorVGA £2669 65 Mb Hard Disk 14° Col VGA. .£2779
We're there because you're there.
FOR FULL PRICE LIST PLEASE CALL аа BERE MICRO-COMPUTERS, PERIPHERALS
EXPORT & TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME M VISA. SOFTWARE, SALES & SUPPORT
TELEPHONE & MAIL ORDERS WELCOME ІМ Ld CREDIT CARDS NOT DEBITED UNTIL DESPATCH
OPENING IN 1989: LEEDS, NEWCASTLE, GLASGOW, BRISTOL & SOUTH LONDON
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